The President’s Cake

The President’s Cake cleverly reveals the intricate, unnerving details of Iraqi life in the 1980s. On the occasion of Saddam Hussein’s upcoming April 28 birthday, special preparations must be made by everyone, no matter their status. This extends to nine-year-old Lamia’s school where a lottery drawing designates a ‘special’ boy and a girl to bring an assigned tribute. So says the belligerent, cantankerous children’s teacher. And thus it falls to Lamia’s classmate friend Saeed to bring fruit for juice and, more problematically, for Lamia to bring a cake. The President’s Cake won the Directors’ Fortnight top prize, the sole Cannes Film Festival award voted for by attending audience members