Iraqi President Saddam Hussein liked to celebrate his birthday, even demanding that school children nationwide bake him cakes—despite daunting food shortages in the waning years of his regime. Nine-year-old Lamia, who lives with her grandmother in a remote marshland, has the dubious luck to be “picked” as the student to produce the cake for the Supreme Leader’s fete. This near-impossible task forces them (plus Lamia’s pet rooster, Hindi) to travel to the city for scarce basic ingredients. There, Lamia ditches Granny and joins her best friend, Saeed, in search of the elusive supplies, the day evolving into a sometimes-fraught adventure. Writer/director Hasan Hadi uses his own youth as the springboard for his first feature, a remarkable story of friendship, discovery, and understanding, as well as perseverance and loss, as seen through a child’s eyes. The first Iraqi feature to play at the Cannes Film Festival, this big-hearted drama won the festival’s Camera D’Or.