Cannes Directors’ Fortnight: ’The President’s Cake,’ Iraq’s First Film at the Festival, Wins People’s Choice Audience Award

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Winners: Iraqi Film ‘The President’s Cake’ Clinches People’s Choice Audience Award

Iraqi director Hasan Hadi’s first feature The President’s Cake has won the second edition of the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight People’s Choice audience award. New York-based Hadi has tapped into his own childhood in southern Iraq in the 1990s, growing up under the regime of President Saddam Hussein and the socio-economic crisis provoked by international sanctions, for the film. The drama follows nine-year-old Lamia who gets the short straw of …

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight: ’The President’s Cake,’ Iraq’s First Film at the Festival, Wins People’s Choice Audience Award

Hailed by Variety as a “warm and heart-tugging tale,” Hasan Hadi’s “The President’s Cake,” Iraq’s first film selected for Cannes, has won the Directors’ Fortnight People’s Choice prize, the first audience award at Cannes and a Directors’ Fortnight plaudit which take into consideration any film from any part of the world. The prestigious award builds on auspicious early major territory sales for the film, sold by Films Boutique, which bid fair …