Hasan Hadi, the first filmmaker from Iraq to win a top prize at the Cannes Film Festival said he's optimistic about the future of cinema in his country.
"I think this proves that our story matters and if you can tell them and tell them well, people around the world will respond positively," he said.
At the festival on Saturday, Hadi's childhood adventure film, The President's Cake, won the Camera d'Or, which honours first-time directors.
Set in the 1990s when Iraq was under crippling UN sanctions, the drama follows nine-year-old Lamia after her school teacher picks her to bake the class a cake for President Saddam Hussein's birthday or risk being denounced for disloyalty.
Along with her grandmother, the pair set off from their home in the marshlands into town to try to track down the unaffordable ingredients.
Speaking at a press conference following his win, Hadi called the win "overwhelming and exciting".
"It means more responsibility and that you have to make films in the same level," he said. "We are an emerging industry. There's still a lot to be done, there are lot of artists that are coming up and I'm optimistic about the future of cinema."
The President's Cake received excellent reviews since premiering last week in the Directors' Fortnight section.
Hadi and his team shot the feature entirely in Iraq, filming predominantly amid the ancient wetlands in the south of the country, listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2016.
He spoke to AFP about how the near-total trade and financial embargo imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait "demolished the moral fabric of society," Hadi said.
It sent the country "hundreds of years back", he said, adding that he did not taste cake until he was in his early teens, after the US-led invasion in 2003 toppled Saddam and sanctions were lifted.
"Sanctions empower dictators," he said. "In the history of the world, there was no one time when they imposed sanctions and the president couldn't eat."
Following his win, Hadi dedicated his award to "every kid or child around the world who somehow finds love, friendship and joy amid war, sanctions and dictatorship".
"You are the real heroes," he said.
He later shared the stage with dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who won the festival's Palme D'Or top prize for his film It Was Just an Accident, the tale of five ordinary Iranians confronting a man they believed tortured them in jail.
Also from the Middle East, Palestinian director Tawfeek Barhom received his award for his short film I'm Glad You're Dead Now.
After giving thanks, he took the opportunity to mention the war in Gaza.
"In 20 years from now when we are visiting the Gaza Strip, try not to think about the dead and have a nice trip," he said.
US President Donald Trump sparked controversy this year by saying he wanted to turn the war-ravaged Palestinian territory into the "Riviera of the Middle East".
Agencies contributed to this report
