‘The President’s Cake’ Points a Finger at Totalitarian Regimes

A very poor young girl must find ingredients to bake a cake for Saddam Hussein’s birthday.

Lamia (Baneen Ahmad Nayyef) holds her pet rooster, in "The President’s Cake." Sony Pictures Classics

PG-13 | 1h 45m | Drama | 2025

In 2003, the United States-led coalition banned members of Saddam Hussein’s Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party from all Iraqi government jobs, including school teachers. A decade prior, 9-year-old Lamia (Baneen Ahmad Nayyef) and her classmates had to endure their “teacher” Musa (Ahmad Qasem Saywan) and his politicized indoctrination.