US EditionIraq's first filmmaker in Cannes says sanctions no piece of cake
- Hasan Hadi, Iraq's first filmmaker selected for Cannes, premiered his debut feature The President's Cake in the Directors' Fortnight section in 2025.
- Hadi drew on his experience growing up under the early 1990s UN embargo on Iraq, which caused severe shortages and widespread hardship in his childhood.
- The film centers on nine-year-old Lamia, who is compelled by her teacher to prepare a dessert celebrating the president's birthday, facing possible accusations of disloyalty if she fails amid harsh sanctions.
- Hadi told AFP that sanctions empower dictators by concentrating scarce resources and making them more brutal, adding the embargo demolished Iraq's moral fabric.
- The film received very positive reviews, with Deadline calling it "head and shoulders above" some Palme d'Or contenders and potentially Iraq's first Oscar nominee.
41 Articles
41 Articles
"Saddam's Cake" Puts an Iraqi Director on the Road to an Oscar
Shafaq News/ Film director Hassan Hadi announced on Sunday that his film "The President's Cake," which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, is nominated for an Oscar. Hadi told AFP, translated by Shafaq News Agency, that "sanctions strengthen dictators because they concentrate scarce resources in their hands and make them more brutal. Never in the history of the world have sanctions been imposed without a president being able to eat." Hadi'…
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Iraq's first filmmaker in Cannes says sanctions no piece of cake
Hasan Hadi, the first filmmaker from Iraq to be selected for the prestigious Cannes Festival, said economic embargoes like those imposed in his childhood under Saddam Hussein did not work.
Iraq’s first filmmaker in Cannes says sanctions no piece of cake
Hasan Hadi, the first filmmaker from Iraq to be selected for the prestigious Cannes Festival, said economic embargoes like those imposed in his childhood under Saddam Hussein did not work. "Sanctions empower dictators," he told AFP, as they concentrate scant resources in their hands and only make them "more brutal". "In the history of the
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