Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 105 minutes
Release Date: February 6th, 2026 (USA)
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Director(s): Hasan Hadi
Writer(s): Hasan Hadi

God is generous.

Despite sanctions, corruption, and widespread poverty, everyone in Iraq must still celebrate Saddam Hussein’s birthday. Young Saeed (Sajad Mohamad Qasem) jokes about whether the president actually eats all the cakes mandated to be baked. His classmate Lamia (Baneen Ahmed Nayyef) prays to not get picked by her teacher to bake one. Because ability and finances do not matter. Refuse to comply with the order and you might be dragged in the street.

Hasan Hadi paints the horrifically sobering experience of growing up under Saddam’s rule through The President’s Cake. It’s not just an adventure wherein two third graders search the city for ingredients to barter for, be gifted, or steal. It’s a tale of survival at an age where you shouldn’t need to worry about corporal punishment let alone starvation at the hands of your government or the threat of being bombed at the scream of American fighter jets above.

We’re talking one hundred minutes of pure desperation, exploitation, sexual abuse, indoctrination, and authority overreach. These kids might not fully understand the scope of what’s happening around them, but we certainly do. Thankfully, there’s at least one compassionate soul willing to help, but willingness isn’t always enough against such long odds. And even if fate allows Lamia to deliver her cake, it only guarantees another second of uncertainty.

The whole flirts with a descent into miserablism as each prayer receives silence at best and a monkey’s paw curl at worst, but there’s enough optimism and hope courtesy of Lamia and Saeed’s innocence (as well as their rooster companion) to get us through. Yes, that innocence is ultimately lost bit by bit from the first frame, but they never quite give up on each other even when frustrations run high. Every hard-won breath taken becomes an involuntary act of defiance.

The President’s Cake had an Oscars-qualifying run on December 12th, 2025.

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Baneen Ahmed Nayyef as Lamia in THE PRESIDENT’S CAKE; courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.