The President's Cake
A determined Iraqi girl races through a landscape of scarcity and surveillance to complete a dictator's compulsory birthday ritual.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- tender
- tragicomic
- devastating
- reflective viewing
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly acclaim its tender, intimate, and vividly crafted portrait of childhood under dictatorship, led by expressive performances and fluid direction.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Lamia's compulsory birthday-cake assignment exposes how state authority penetrates rural family life.
Lamia's search for ingredients sends her across the Iraqi countryside and links episodic encounters into a pressured quest.
The difficulty of finding basic cake ingredients and the presence of counterfeit money ground the story in scarcity and coercion.
Saddam Hussein's birthday cake functions as a compulsory display of loyalty backed by punishment.
Films like The President's Cake, and why
The Breadwinner
childhood perspective, oppressive political circumstances, and intimate historical drama
The White Balloon
rural childhood, authoritarian violence, and bittersweet coming of age
Where Is the Friend's Home?
young protagonist navigating poverty and social danger through a journey
Theeb
road movie structure, humanist storytelling, and tragicomic emotional register
Movie Details
- Director
- Hasan Hadi
- Release Date
- 2026-01-22
- Runtime
- 106 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (115)
Cast
- Baneen Ahmed Nayyef
- Sajad Mohamad Qasem
- Waheed Thabet Khreibat
- Rahim AlHaj
- Muthanna Malaghi
- Ahmad Qasem Saywan
- Thaer Salem
- Fatima Abouharoon
- Mohammed Rheimeh
- Rokia Alwadi
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Plex
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The President's Cake about?
- A determined Iraqi girl races through a landscape of scarcity and surveillance to complete a dictator's compulsory birthday ritual.
- What is The President's Cake like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The President's Cake as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The President's Cake violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The President's Cake as mild.
- What did critics think of The President's Cake?
- Critics broadly acclaim its tender, intimate, and vividly crafted portrait of childhood under dictatorship, led by expressive performances and fluid direction.
- Which films are like The President's Cake?
- Films with a similar feel include The Breadwinner, The White Balloon, Where Is the Friend's Home?, and Theeb.
- How long is The President's Cake?
- The President's Cake runs 106 minutes.
- Where can I watch The President's Cake?
- In United States, The President's Cake streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.
