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| The President's Cake director Hasan Hadi: 'One of the intentions was that I also wanted to break this fear about shooting a film in Iraq and I’m really glad I had an amazing team who stood by me' Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Directors' Fortnight |
Saddam Hussein’s birthday couldn’t be less of a gift for nine-year-old Lamia (Banin Ahmad Nayef), who lives with her grandmother (Waheed Thabet Khreibat) in Iran’s Mesopotamian marshes. When she is selected by her dictatorial schoolteacher to prepare a cake for the occasion – something The President’s Cake shows us was a requirement right across the country in the Nineties – it’s easier said than done with international sanctions biting deep. With his impressive and complex debut feature, writer/director Hasan Hadi takes us on an city odyssey with Lamia, her trusty pet cockerel Hindi, and her school pal Saeed (Sajad Mohamad Qasem) as they try to acquire the necessary ingredients in a story that though it draws on fable elements remains rooted in the dangers of the real world. The film also stars musician Rahim AlHaj as Jasim, one of the few truly sympathetic adult characters Lamia encounters. We caught up with Hadi ahead of his film’s premiere in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight to talk about the film’s themes and the challenges of shooting it.
We should start with the cake of the title and the business of having to make one for Saddam Hussein’s birthday. Was that something you remembered from your own childhood?
Hasan Hadi: It was inspired by my childhood. Obviously, I didn’t make the cake, which was a relief for my family but it was a thing. Every year the teacher would walk in with a bowl in hand. At the time, because of the sanctions, the moral fabric of society got demolished so badly that students started to bribe the teacher in different ways. The favours would build up for them and, the chances of escaping being picked if you didn’t offer them were pretty low.
But the risks seem pretty high for not delivering what’s asked?
HH: The risk? He could easily have reported them and that could mean so many things, but usually if this teacher reports that a student and their family have disrespected Sadam, there have been many anecdotes that some people even lost their lives because of that. So it is a very real thing. But at the same time, I think the most real things are also the most ridiculous. Like the president wants a cake? He's not going to even taste it.
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| The President's Cake. Hasan Hadi: 'Films are supposed to elevate you to another world, at least for me, that’s why I like films that show you real life but, at the same time, there’s a leap of faith they’re asking you to take' Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Directors' Fortnight |
HH: I’m glad you noticed that to be honest, because it's such a delicate balance. We tried to create it with many elements but sound design was definitely one of them. And even with the character of Jasim, the fable and realism mix can be very delicate in films so this was a risk we were taking obviously. For example if you look at the character of Jasim, if you’re saying what does he do? He gives this riddle about what he does as work. We assume he’s a mailman but he never says that, we assume it. For me, it’s like he comes and goes in a unique way because in the way I’ve experienced life there has to be someone who has shown up suddenly, did a very crucial helpful thing and then they just disappeared. I like to imagine them as angels in human shape that come and give you some hope for a better future and then they go.
As for the sound design. If you notice for example, the firecracker, we were very specific. I’m very glad to hear you talking about it because we mixed sound from the 90s sometimes with the sounds from the location and sounds that we wanted to add. So even with the sound of the birds we were very specific. What kind of birds? What time of the day do we usually here them? The bird we hear at 5pm is not the same as the bird we hear at 2pm. And these are based on my childhood.
The sound of firecrackers, which repeats itself at the end of the film, is interesting because of my life as I grew up. I'm a bit repulsed by this sound because somehow they sound like rockets and bullets. For some people it’s just the sound of celebration but, for me, it sounds like a bullet. My sound designer Tamás Zányi – who did Son Of Saul – did an amazing job of mixing them together.
We even mixed in real sounds from the 90s – off bombing of, you know, other things and you know players. Yeah. And actually, what is the name of your sound designer?
I was reminded when I was watching your film I was reminded of Iranian children's films like The White Balloon and Where Is The Friend’s House? and I was wondering if you would cite those among your influences?
HH: When I was writing the script, I knew this had very fable-like and realism elements in it. So I wouldn't say I was trying to mimic anyone but, for me, [I like] these movies that have elements of imagination but it’s still very real, Bicycle Thieves, or Where Is The Friend’s House, for example and maybe some Rossellini films too.
Films are supposed to elevate you to another world, at least for me, that’s why I like films that show you real life but, at the same time, there’s a leap of faith they’re asking you to take – Three Colours, for example, does that very beautifully and it gives you such a spiritual experience when you watch the film. What I like in a film is when they exceed the expectations of just imitating real life.
You handle the darker elements quite gently in a way. So I feel like this film is accessible for older children as well, you’re not becoming brutal with it. It's obvious that there is darkness there that these pure children are encountering constantly, but, but equally, I feel like you felt quite protective of those characters.
HH: It depends because I've heard some people say, it's very dark for children, so it depends really which country you come from, which society. I don't think it's too dark for children, I think it's very much within the children’s world but it’s not a film for children, I would say it’s a film about children. I really didn’t try to be protective. I followed what they wanted to do and, I think, at the same time, you cannot go for the shock effect. Take, for example, the scene where he is with the guy who is taking her through a shop parade. I feel like, at this point, she was telling me, ‘I’m going to run away, I’m not going to be that fool who’s going to stay there.’
You were talking about Jasim and he’s the one adult character who is very positive in the film and I wondered about how you came to cast Rahim AlHaj because he’s more famous as a musician?
HH: First I approached him to see if he was interested in doing the music. He was very friendly and a very specific type of character. I would go and there’s so much pressure about pre-production and somehow I just felt uplifted by him. And, we struggled with every character, but Jasim had to have this special element about him that makes him memorable. And then I was like, “I might have another request other than the music. Do you think you want to act?” He was like, “Oh no!” He lives in the US and, at the time I was in Baghdad, so this whole thing was happening over Zoom. I was like, “I think you will be very good for this character and he's like, “Hasan, I’ve never acted.” And I said, “Well, you have performed in concert so it's not so different.” I was so honoured he put his trust in me because he’s a very well known musician and this was his first appearance as an actor.
Talking about casting, how did you find the terrific younger cast members?
HH: We went through thousands of kids to cast Lamia because you’d find a girl and you’d like her but always you’d feel there was something missing. We went until the last minute looking for her. The pressure was getting high and we were getting close to the production and we still didn’t have Lamia but I had a very strange feeling that she was waiting for us but we just needed to be patient. And one day one of our casting assistants was on the street recording so many kids – and one of them was her and it was a 30-second clip or something like that. I just knew because she had the eyes, she had the smile, she had the attitude. She came and she was very shy, this was very new to her as originally she’s from the marches, although she’d recently moved to Baghdad.
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| Hasan Hadi: 'What I like in a film is when they exceed the expectations of just imitating real life' |
I’m not looking to make an actor, I’m looking for the character itself. We’re going to tell them, “Cut, action” but it was not a typical rehearsal, we created some special rehearsals for ourselves because these non-actors haven’t developed the tools of actors. So when they are vulnerable, you can really impact them. Actors develop this immunity and methods to deal with that but these actors don’t. At the same time, you want authentic performance and how to do that without impacting their psychology was very important. It’s a delicate situation but it wasn't’ only her. Almost all our casting was street casting. Some of them couldn’t read or write so we had to come up with a new way to shoot scenes that make sense for us.
Shooting in the marshes must have been challenging as well.
HH: It was really a challenging shoot because we were on water, so you cannot do anything. You have to get on the boat. So we were 40 minutes away from the closest shore and anything I want to do, I have to get on a boat and it takes me. So, it was like, “The boat will come in five minutes”... but I was like, “No, I really need to jump on the boat now and tell the actor to do this or that.” That was a challenge in itself. I remember my mentor was saying, "You don’t want to do any of these four or five forbidden things on your first feature: to have non-actors, children, animals, crowds and water because it's so challenging to deal with all that". And I was like, “Wow, I'm dealing with all these elements, I’m dealing with the cast, I’m dealing with water, I’m dealing with kids and animals. Especially the rooster, because the rooster was a character for us.”
Hindi is great. What a scene-stealer.
HH: I think our sound designer had a track called “Hindi’s dialogue”, because for him, he was speaking too. We felt Hindi was an Oscar-worthy performer.
Did you have casting for him?
HH: Yes, we did believe it or not. I have done things I never imagined I would do in my life and, yes, we did that with the rooster because you don’t want an aggressive one. I started to understand how this rooster crows, when he wants to crow and what to do for him to crow. You needed to understand even him as a character and he did an amazing job and added a very good layer to the film and everybody loved him on the set obviously too.
This was a big step up for you from shorts and it sounds like it's been quite a full-on experience. You’ve been based in New York, do you think you're just, you're going to continue to make films in Iraq or do you see yourself making films in other countries as well?
HH: I left Iraq to study filmmaking at NYU and there I met so many filmmakers and mentors that changed my perception of filmmaking. I feel like, yes, I would love to continue doing films in Iraq but I think I just want to tell good stories, whether they’re in New York, in Japan, in Iraq or another country, so long as it’s a good story and I think I can bring nuances and characters and life to it, then I’m fine.
We were asked to shoot this film in a different location. Maybe in Jordan, maybe in Morocco, because people were afraid about shooting the film in Iraq. I was like, “There’s no way we can shoot this film outside Iraq.” One of the intentions was that I also wanted to break this fear about shooting a film in Iraq and I’m really glad I had an amazing team who stood by me. You want to break this stigma, if that’s the right word. I understand, I lived there so the sound of firecrackers reminds me of rockets and this is not normal, this is not healthy. But Iraq is not only about that it has more history. Hopefully people can see something because no one expects marshes like this, nobody expects to have this kind of architecture in Iraq, nobody expects these kinds of colour, life existing here. For me, that was an important part of the whole storytelling too.
