The President's Cake

The President’s Cake
American theatrical release poster
Arabic	مملكة القصب
Directed by	Hasan Hadi
Written by	Hasan Hadi
Produced by	Leah Chen Baker
Starring	Baneen Ahmad Nayyef Sajad Mohamad Qasem Waheed Thabet Khreibat Rahim AlHaj
Cinematography	Tudor Vladimir Panduru
Edited by	Andu Radu
Production companies	Maiden Voyage Pictures Working Barn Productions Spark Features Missing Piece Films
Distributed by	Film Clinic Indie Distribution (Iraq and Qatar)[1] Sony Pictures Classics (United States)
Release dates	May 16, 2025 (2025-05-16) (Cannes) February 6, 2026 (2026-02-06) (United States)
Running time	105 minutes[2]
Countries	Iraq Qatar United States
Language	Arabic (Iraqi dialect)
Box office	$1 million[3][4]

The President's Cake (Arabic: مملكة القصب) is a 2025 drama film written and directed by Hasan Hadi. It stars Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Sajad Mohamad Qasem, Waheed Thabet Khreibat and Rahim AlHaj.

The film had its world premiere at the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2025, where it won the section's Audience Award and the Caméra d'Or. It was selected as the Iraqi entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards, making the December shortlist.[5] It was released in the United States by Sony Pictures Classics on February 6, 2026.

The film is set in Iraq under President Saddam Hussein in the 1990s, after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and during the period of economic sanctions by western countries that followed.[6] Nine-year-old Lamia must gather ingredients to bake a mandatory cake to celebrate the president's birthday, or face punishment at her school. She is poor, and lives with her grandmother Bibi and her cockerel Hindi in the Mesopotamian Marshes. Groceries are expensive and scarce. She obtains a shopping list of flour, eggs, and sugar from Bibi,[7] but Bibi, old and sick, takes Lamia by taxi to meet a woman who is to be her foster mother.[6] Lamia takes flight, and is joined at the river by her friend Saeed to source the ingredients for the cake in the city, taking her father's watch to sell to buy the goods. Almost everyone else they encounter in the city are bad characters, and they survive a few scrapes. The taxi driver, Jasim, encounters Bibi again and joins the hunt for the little girl, as the police are not very interested in helping, being more preoccupied with the president's birthday.[6]

• Baneen Ahmad Nayyef as Lamia
• Sajad Mohamad Qasem as Saeed
• Waheed Thabet Khreibat as Bibi
• Rahim AlHaj as Jasim

The film is the feature directorial debut of Hasan Hadi,[8] who co-wrote the script with Eric Roth.[9] It was filmed entirely in Iraq, using mostly untrained actors.[8]

The film received support and grants from the Doha Film Institute,[10] and SFFILM Ranin Grant.[11] It was also selected for the 2022 Sundance Institute Directing and Screenwriting Labs.[12][13] Marielle Heller, Eric Roth, and Chris Columbus are among the executive producers.[7][14]

The film had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors' Fortnight section, on May 16, 2025.[15] It became the first film from Iraq to compete[16] in the Directors' Fortnight, and won the top prize in the section, the only Cannes Film Festival award voted for by attending audience members.[9]

On May 27, 2025, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to the film in North and Latin America, Eastern Europe, India, and Southeast Asia.[17]

The film was screened at Sydney Film Festival in June 2025,[18] Melbourne International Film Festival in August 2025,[7] CineFest Miskolc International Film Festival (Hungary) [19] and Calgary International Film Festival in September 2025 [20], Adelaide Film Festival in October 2025[21] and Sarlat Film Festival in November 2025.

It competed for IFFI ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal at the 56th International Film Festival of India in November 2025.[22]

In November 2025, Sony announced that the film would be given a week-long awards-qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles starting December 12, 2025, followed by a limited theatrical release on February 6, 2026 that will expand nationwide two weeks later on February 27.[23]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 55 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "A tenderly crafted, often devastating portrait of childhood in rural Iraq, The President's Cake vividly brings to life its morally complex world through richly drawn characters and intimate storytelling."[24]

Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter called the film a "tragicomic gem", praising the performances, Hadi's direction ("Hadi stages the action here and throughout the movie with fluent energy"), and the cinematography of Tudor Vladimir Panduru.[8]

Diane Carson, writing for the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, called Baneen Ahmed Nayyef's performance as Lamia "a treasure of expressive joy and heartbreaking sadness, of frustration and determination", while Waheed Thabet Khreibat, as Bibi, gives "a subdued, wonderful performance" and Sajad Mohamad Qasem as Saeed "brings energy and impetuous trouble to the quest", concluding with "The President's Cake offers an astute, poignant story of empathy for humanity caught in the crosshairs".[9]

Nabil Salih, a writer and photographer from Baghdad, writing for Jacobin, is less complimentary. He writes that the film is "both entertaining and compelling, but only if you know little about Iraq... the film rehearses known stereotypes and corresponds to little that is real. Instead, it fulfills misconceptions of morbid Oriental cities reduced by despotic regimes to decadent theaters for the corrupt".[6]

• List of submissions to the 98th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
• List of Iraqi submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

• The President's Cake at IMDb