The President's Cake (2026) dir. Hasan Hadi @ Regal Harbour View

Another film from the Middle East, this one from Iraq.

RUNTIME: 102 minutes

RATED: PG-13

SYNOPSIS: While people across 1990s Iraq struggle to survive the war and food shortages, the President requires each school in the country to prepare a cake to celebrate his birthday. Despite her efforts to avoid getting picked, 9-year-old Lamia is chosen among her classmates. The young girl must now use her wits and imagination to gather ingredients and prepare the mandatory cake in THE PRESIDENT’S CAKE.

BLURBS:

"While 'The President’s Cake' mostly plays like a genial fairy tale, with superbly balanced humor and drama, Hadi is still unsparing about the ills of patriarchal society. It is a compassionate and winsome debut, packed with an unassuming punch." - Tomris Laffly, Variety

"This detail-rich and tremendously moving moral fable uncovers harsh realities in Iraqi society without departing from the earnest perspective of its knee-high protagonist, and without diminishing the dignity or value of her hopes and dreams." - Isaac Feldberg, *RogerEbert.com*

"From the pastoral beauty of its opening sequence to the gut punch of its last, Hadi’s film is an exceptional screen debut, as perceptive as it is kinetic and, with one eye on the bombers overhead, brimming with life." - Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter