Overview
- The feature is now in French theaters as of February 4, 2026, running 1h42 and starring Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Sajad Mohamad Qasem and Waheed Thabet Khreibat.
- Set in the Iraqi marshes in the early 1990s, the story follows a 9-year-old chosen to bake a birthday cake for Saddam Hussein despite rationing and poverty.
- Hasan Hadi says the narrative mirrors his own childhood experience “100%,” drawing on a real school practice from the era.
- Hadi shot on location in southern Iraq with non-professional actors to recreate the rural police-state atmosphere through a child’s perspective.
- The film won Cannes’ Caméra d’Or and was Iraq’s Oscar submission, though it did not make the final shortlist, and it benefited from backing by producers including Leah Chen Baker, Eli Roth and Chris Columbus.