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Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights in North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and India for Cannes Caméra d’Or winner The President’s Cake by Iraqi director Hasan Hadi.

The film, which debuted in Directors’ Fortnight, also proved a crowdpleaser in the Cannes parallel section, winning its People’s Choice audience award.

Deadline critic Pete Hammond also fell for the film describing it as a “a true gem and a real discovery”. Check out his review here.

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 having to provide a birthday cake for her classmates to celebrate the president’s birthday. Gathering the ingredients for the mandatory cake at a...

Vertical has acquired North American, U.K. and Ireland distribution rights to Max Tzannes’ horror-comedy film “Found Footage: The Making of The Patterson Project.” Directed and written by Tzannes and co-written by David San Miguel, “Found Footage” features editing and cinematography from Jacob Souza — together, the three make up the Dirty Shot Clean film collective.

“Dirty Shot Clean was thrilled to collaborate with filmmakers whose genre-bending movies have had such a profound influence on our work,” said Tzannes in a statement. “We wanted to tell a story that celebrates and subverts the found footage tropes we all know and love, while also poking fun at the terrifying experience of making an independent horror film.”

According to a synopsis, “Found Footage” follows “a crew of acclaimed documentarians as they chronicle a young filmmaker’s quest to create the world’s greatest found footage horror film.” Inspired by films like “This is Spinal Tap...

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights in North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, South East Asia and India to Iraqi drama The President’s Cake, winner of the Camera d’Or and Directors’ Fortnight People’s Choice Award at this month’s Cannes festival.

Written and directed by Hasan Hadi as his feature debut, the film is set in 1990s Iraq, where a nine-year-old girl uses her wits and imagination to make the cake all schools are mandated to prepare to celebrate the birthday of the country’s president.

The film is produced by Leah Chen Baker with executive producers...

The President’s Cake, the first Iraqi film to play at Cannes Film Festival, has won the People’s Choice award in the independent Directors’ Fortnight sidebar.

Launched last year in partnership with the Chantel Akerman Foundation, the award is voted for by the audiences for the Directors’ Fortnight films, and comes with a €7,500 cash prize.

It is the only audience award across the Official Selection and parallel sidebars at Cannes.

The feature debut of writer-director Hasan Hadi, The President’s Cake follows nine-year-old Lamia, who is selected for the intimidating role of baking Saddam Hussein’s birthday cake. She confides in her grandmother,...

Iraqi filmmaker Hasan Hadi has won the Directors’ Fortnight People’s Choice Award at the Cannes Film Festival for his poignant, darkly comic debut feature The President’s Cake.

The €7,500 ($8,400) cash prize is the only audience-voted award across the official selection and parallel sections in Cannes and marks a major breakthrough for the New York-based Hadi. The film is being sold internationally by Films Boutique, with UTA handling North American rights.

Based on Hadi’s own childhood in 1990s Iraq, the film follows nine-year-old Lamia, who is tasked with baking a cake to honor Saddam Hussein’s birthday — a seemingly simple assignment with life-or-death stakes. Amid crippling sanctions, food shortages and a climate of fear, Lamia’s attempt to gather ingredients becomes a journey of quiet rebellion and resourcefulness.

Produced by Leah Chen Baker under the banner of Tpc Film LLC, the film has resonated with critics and audiences alike. In her The Hollywood Reporter review,...

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 having to provide a birthday cake for her classmates to celebrate the president’s birthday. Gathering the ingredients for the mandatory cake at a time of shortages is a monumental task but failure to deliver could lead to prison or death for her family.

Leah Chen Baker produced under the banner of New-York-based Tpc Film LLC. Films Boutique handles international sales, with UTA handling North America.

Deadline critic Pete Hammond has also fallen for the film describing it as...

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 for a broad international roll out.

News of the Director’s Fortnight People’s Choice prize comes as Belgian Valéry Carnoy has won a second partner prize in the Directors’ Fortnight, scooping the Sacd Coup de Cœur des Auteurs prize for “Wild Foxes,” adding to its Europa Cinemas Cannes Label for best European film at Directors’ Fortnight, announced just an hour ago. The double whammy establishes the Belgian director as a director to track.

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Films Boutique has sold Hasan Hadi’s “The President’s Cake,” which had its world premiere in Cannes sidebar Directors’ Fortnight, to multiple territories.

The film was picked up by Lucky Red for Italy, Atalante for Spain, Rialto Distribution for Australia/New Zealand, Filmcoopi for Switzerland, Cinobo for Greece and Nitrato Filmes for Portugal.

Negotiations are underway for the U.K., Turkey, Scandinavia, Latin America, Austria and the Middle-East.

As previously announced, Tandem has the film in France, and September Film has it in Benelux. North American rights are handled by UTA/WME.

“The President’s Cake” takes place in 1990s Iraq when people across the country are struggling to survive food shortages. It is at this time that Saddam Hussein requires each school in the country to prepare a cake to celebrate his birthday.

Despite her efforts to avoid getting picked, 9-year-old Lamia is chosen from among her classmates. The girl...

Perhaps the most surprising thing about today’s world premiere of The President’s Cake in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival is that it isn’t in the main Competition at the Grand Lumiere. It is head and shoulders above some of those films I have seen there, but no matter how you find it, this is a true gem and a real discovery from Hasan Hadi. With the right distributor, it could turn out to be Iraq’s first nominee for an Oscar. Yes, it is that good, and coming from a country that barely has movie theaters or any history of cinema, that is saying a lot. This is the first major film from Iraq ever to play in Cannes.

Set in 1990s Iraq as dictator Saddam Hussein ruled the land, this is a slice of life actually shot in the country and a...

Sales agency Films Boutique has closed two key territories on Iraqi writer/director Hasan Hadi’s “The President’s Cake” ahead of its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight during the Cannes Film Festival.

The film has been acquired in France by Tandem and Benelux by September Film.

“The President’s Cake” takes place in 1990s Iraq when people across the country are struggling to survive food shortages. It is at this time that Saddam Hussein requires each school in the country to prepare a cake to celebrate his birthday.

Despite her efforts to avoid getting picked, 9-year-old Lamia is chosen among her classmates. The girl must now use her wits and imagination to gather ingredients for the mandatory cake or face the consequences.

“The President’s Cake” was filmed entirely in Iraq with a cast of local non-actors, who included Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Sajad Mohamad Qasem, Waheed Thabet Khreibat and Rahim AlHaj.

Hadi...

Exclusive: Films Boutique has boarded world sales on Hasan Hadi’s Iraqi debut feature The President’s Cake, which was selected for Cannes sidebar Directors’ Fortnight earlier this month.

Written by Hadi, the film is set in 1990s Iraq and follows nine-year-old Lamia, who is selected for the intimidating role of baking Saddam Hussein’s birthday cake. She must use her wits and imagination to gather the ingredients to make the mandatory cake, or face the consequences.

Filmed entirely in Iraq, the Iraq-us-Qatar co-production is produced by US producer Leah Chen Baker, whose credits include Sundance 2022 feature Palm Trees and Power Lines.

Exclusive: The Gotham Film & Media Institute has today named the fellows set for the 2023 edition of its Festival de Cannes Producers Network Program, scheduled to take place in person at Cannes from May 17-22. The list includes independent filmmakers Maria Altamirano, Liz Cardenas, Leah Chen Baker, Yoni Golijov, Emma Hannaway Nikkia Moulterie and Carlos Zozaya.

Running concurrently with the Cannes Film Festival and the Marche du Film, the program is specifically designed for experienced producers to build up their international networks and learn more about international production, financing, legal and packaging. As its sole U.S. partner organization, The Gotham annually selects U.S. fiction and nonfiction producers to participate.

“The 2023 Gotham/Cannes Producers Network Fellows are an extraordinary group of talented producers, who have demonstrated so early in their careers both the taste and acumen to bring excellent new projects to life,” said The Gotham’s Executive Director,...

Everything Everywhere All at Once cleaned up at the 38th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, winning seven awards, including best feature.

Stars Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan each collected another award to add to their hauls, taking home best lead performance and best supporting performance, respectively, while Stephanie Hsu won best breakthrough performance. The film’s writer-directors, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, won the Spirit Award for best director and best screenplay, and Paul Rogers won for his editing work.

Heading into the show, Everything Everywhere All at Once led the film nominations with eight nods, winning every category in which it was nominated. Jamie Lee Curtis also was nominated but lost to her Eeao co-star Quan for best supporting performance.

On the TV side, The Bear was named best new scripted series, with Ayo Edebiri taking home the award for best supporting performance in a new scripted series.

Since starting his career in the mid-1990s, Jonathan Tucker has racked up some 60 film and TV credits. But with his newest, the indie drama Palm Trees and Power Lines, the 40-year-old faced one of his toughest challenges.

The film, which marks the feature debut of Jamie Dack (who won a directing prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival), Tucker stars as a mysterious stranger who seduces a disconnected teenage girl. “I didn’t appreciate how challenging the whole experience would be of building the performance,” explains Tucker, who was quick to credit his director, co-star Lily McInerny and producer Leah Chen Baker for their work, adding that he felt it was his job to act while also supporting them during production. “But watching the movie as a father and as a husband is brutal. Watching somebody manipulate another vulnerable human being, particularly a young woman, is a hard watch.”

Even still,...

Southern Californian director Jamie Dack’s coming-of-age drama “Palm Trees and Power Lines” was crowned best film as the 40th edition of the Torino Film Festival wrapped Saturday. The award is worth €18,000.

Dack, winner of the Sundance Film Festival directing award in the U.S. Dramatic section, also received Torino’s prize for best script, shared with her co-writer Audrey Findlay.

Based on the 2018 short movie of the same name, Dack’s film stars Gretchen Mol, Jonathan Tucker and Lily McInerny, who plays a 17-year-old who has a life changing encounter with a man twice her age.

“Palm Trees” was nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards, including first feature for Dack and Leah Chen Baker; first screenplay for Dack and Audrey Findlay; supporting performance for Tucker; and breakthrough performance for McInerny.

The jury awarded “Rodeo,” the debut feature from French photojournalist-turned-filmmaker Lola Quivoron, with the special jury award, and the...

Celebrating its 38th edition, the Film Independent Spirit Awards have unveiled their 2023 nominations, with the Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once leading the pack with eight nominations while Todd Field’s TÁR secured seven. Along with those two, rounding out the Best Feature nominations were Bones and All, Our Father, the Devil, and Women Talking. Elsewhere, some of our favorites of the year––including Aftersun, Murina, The African Desperate, The Cathedral, After Yang, All That Breathes, Saint Omer, and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed––were recognized.

Check out the nominations below ahead of the March 4 ceremony.

Best Feature (Award given to the producer)

Bones and All

Producers: Timothée Chalamet, Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Luca Guadagnino, David Kajganich, Lorenzo Mieli, Marco Morabito, Gabriele Moratti, Theresa Park, Peter Spears

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Producers: Daniel Kwan, Mike Larocca, Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang

Our Father, the Devil

Producers: Ellie Foumbi,...

Click here to read the full article.

The 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations in film categories were revealed Tuesday morning.

Taylour Paige and Raúl Castillo announced this year’s movie nominees in a livestream on Film Independent’s YouTube channel.

A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once leads the nominations with eight nods including best feature, directing and screenplay (for filmmaking duo Daniels). Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu were also honored for their performances. Other leading Oscar contenders landing Spirit Awards nods include Focus Features’ Tàr (which earned seven nominations, among them for Todd Field’s direction and writing, as well as performances from Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss), United Artists’ Bones and All (recognized with three nods including for its performances from Taylor Russell and Mark Rylance) and A24’s The Inspection (earning nods for actors Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union, in addition...

“Bones and All,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Our Father, the Devil,” “Tár” and “Women Talking” have have been nominated as the best independent films of 2022 at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which announced its nominations on Tuesday morning by Taylour Paige and Raúl Castillo.

Acting nominees in the gender-neutral categories include Brian Tyree Henry for “Causeway,” Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss for “Tár,” Regina King for “Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul” and Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Those three acting nominations for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” along with a Breakthrough Performance nom for Stephanie Hsu, pushed that film to eight nominations, the most of any film. “Tár” finished second with seven nominations, followed by “Aftersun” with five and “Palm Trees and Power Lines,” “Women Talking” and “Emily the Criminal” with four each.

Also Read:

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once...

Film Constellation handles international sales.

Momentum Pictures has acquired US and UK rights to Sundance winner and BFI London Film festival selection Palm Trees And Power Lines.

Jamie Dack directed from a screenplay he co-wrote with Audrey Findlay about a disconnected teenage girl on summer break who falls into a relationship with a man more than twice her age. While she sees him as the solution to all her problems, his intentions are not what they seem.

Lily McInerny, Jonathan Tucker, and Gretchen Mol star. The producers are Leah Chen Baker and Jamie Dack.

Momentum plans a limited theatrical and...

Click here to read the full article.

The Sundance Institute has unveiled the producers and the projects selected for this summer’s Producers Lab and Producers Summit. Taking place July 25-28 and July 29-31, respectively, the events are being held in person at Utah’s Sundance Mountain Resort. The Producers Lab will feature six fiction films’ and five nonfiction films’ producers and their projects while the summit will host 40 industry insiders and 26 indie filmmakers.

Advisors for the feature film program include David Hinojosa (Zola, Bodies Bodies Bodies), Amy Lo (Nancy, Sugar), Riva Marker (The Guilty, Relic), Josh Penn (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and Jason Michael Berman (Nine Days, Uncorked) while the documentary film program features Daffodil Altan (PBS’ Frontline), Violet Feng (Hidden Letters, Tigre Gente), Andrea Meditch (Ernie & Joe, Fathom), Bob Moore (Midwives, Softie) and Amanda Spain (MSNBC Films).

Industry participants in this year’s summit include Maria Altamirano...

Sundance Institute, the nonprofit organization that puts on the yearly film festival in Park City, has announced the entrants for its Producers Lab and Producers Summit.

Both events, the former taking place from July 25 to 28 and the latter from July 29 to 31, will be held in person at Utah’s Sundance Mountain Resort. The Institute picked six fiction film and five non-fiction film producers and their projects. Producers Lab and Producers Summit, which counts more than 40 industry leaders and 26 independent filmmakers among its participants, supports up-and-coming producers through year-round mentorship, granting, educational resources, strategic introductions, and networking opportunities with the industry.

“It has been three years since we have been able to gather in person, and over this time, the landscape for independent storytelling has shifted dramatically. It’s never been more critical to work to create a sustainable future for independent producers, a key priority for the Lab and Summit,...

Events to run this month in Utah,

Sundance Institute has unveiled participants for its Producers Lab taking place July 25–28 and Producers Summit running July 29–31. Both events take place in person at Utah’s Sundance Mountain Resort.

The six fiction film producers and their projects under the auspices of the Producers Lab are: The Rotting Of Casey Culpepper; The President’s Cake; Starfuckers; Sales Per Hour; and Huella.

The five documentary film producers and projects are: Untitled Dwarfism Project; Untitled Sura Mallouh Project; Untitled Baltimore Project; Bartolo; and Queendom.

Producers and projects participating in the Producers Summit include: Jade Jackson with...

The Sundance Institute has unveiled the participants for its first in-person Producers Lab and Producers Summit in three years, set to take place in Utah this month.

Under the umbrella of its year-round Producers Program, the two conferences are intended to incubate and champion rising talent by pairing them with industry veterans.

From July 25 to July 28, the Producers Lab will bring together 11 filmmakers and their projects in group workshops and one-on-one mentoring sessions. On the feature film side are Apoorva Guru Charan (“The Rotting Of Casey Culpepper”), Leah Chen Baker (“The President’s Cake”), Eli Raskin (“Starfuckers”), Chloe Sabin (“Sales Per Hour”) and Helena Sardinha and Doménica Castro (“Huella”). The documentary producer participants are Lindsey Dryden (“Untitled Dwarfism Project”), Yoni Golijov (“Untitled Sura Mallouh Project”), Dawne Langford (“Untitled Baltimore Project”), Neyda Martinez (“Bartolo”) and Igor Myakotin (“Queendom”).

Also Read:

Sundance Festival Plans Return to Hybrid Format for 2023

The following week...

The Sundance Institute has named the participants for its 2022 Producers Lab and Summit, both of which are set to take place in person this year at Utah’s Sundance Mountain Resort.

The Fellows and projects selected for the Lab’s Feature Film Program are Apoorva Guru Charan (The Rotting Of Casey Culpepper), Leah Chen Baker (The President’s Cake), Eli Raskin (Starfuckers), Chloe Sabin (Sales Per Hour), and the duo of Helena Sardinha and Doménica Castro (Huella). Those set for the Lab’s Documentary Film Program are Lindsey Dryden (Untitled Dwarfism Project), Yoni Golijov (Untitled Sura Mallouh Project), Dawne Langford (Untitled Baltimore Project), Neyda Martinez (Bartolo) and Igor Myakotin (Queendom).

Jade Jackson (Losa), Lauren Lopez de Victoria (Forward), Fox Maxy (Water Tight), Albert Tholen and Aiko Masubuchi (Earthquake), and Séverine Tibi (Birthday) will participate in the Producers Summit on the Fiction Features side, with Nonfiction Feature participants to include Jude Chehab...

The Cairo Film Festival’s Cairo Film Connection co-production platform wrapped Saturday with a glamorous prize ceremony which saw Egyptian first-timer Adhan El-Sherif’s “Ravens of the City” and French-Egyptian filmmaker Namir Abdel Messeeh’s “Life After Siham” stand out, though awards were widely spread.

“Ravens” of the City,” a gritty drama in development about a reckless hustler named Gharib who desperately needs cash to enter a street car race and falls prey to a money lender, scored four awards worth a total of $60,000 in cash. Produced by Sudan’s Mohammed Alomda (“You Will Die at Twenty”), “Ravens” will be getting consulting from U.S. non-profit Film Independent, which collaborates with Cairo.

Reflecting director Messeeh’s bi-cultural background, “Life After Siham,” is about a French film director conducting a filmmaking workshop in Egypt which turns into a way for him to confront the trauma of his mother’s death. “Siham,...

Gretchen Mol, Jonathan Tucker and newcomer Lily McInerny are set to star in “Palm Trees and Power Lines,” from director Jamie Dack.

Based on Dack’s short of the same name — which debuted as a Cinéfondation selection at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival — “Palm Trees and Power Lines” is a coming-of-age drama about a disconnected teenage girl named Lea (McInerny) who enters a relationship with a man twice her age. Lea sees him as the solution to all her problems, but his intentions are not what they seem.

Dack makes her feature directorial debut with the project, which is a recipient of the 2021 Panavision new filmmaker grant. “Palm Trees and Power Lines” was also produced by a female-led crew. Dack wrote the screenplay with Audrey Findlay and produced the movie alongside Leah Chen Baker. Spirit Award-nominated director of photography Chananun Chotrungroj shot the feature.

Mol will next be seen in the upcoming Showtime series “American Gigolo.