Iraqi writer, filmmaker, and teacher Hasan Hadi's acclaimed directorial debut "The President's Cake", which won both the Audience Award and the Caméra d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, is leading a line-up of ten feature films vying for the ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal this year.

The prestigious honour is presented annually to a film that promotes peace, tolerance, and inter-cultural dialogue, reflecting Mahatma Gandhi's vision of non-violence and harmony.

Hadi's film, which had its world premiere in the Directors' Fortnight section at Cannes and was selected as Iraq's official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards, is set in 1990s Iraq. It tells the poignant story of nine-year-old Lamia, who must bake the President's birthday cake amid the country's crippling UN food sanctions.

As Lamia struggles to find ingredients for the cake, the film explores the devastating impact of political unrest and scarcity on innocent lives. Through the recurring motif of hunger, it becomes a haunting allegory for the deprivation of food, safety, and childhood under dictatorship and war.

Another strong contender for the Gandhi Medal is playwright and filmmaker Nadia Fall's debut drama "Brides". The film offers a gripping and empathetic portrayal of radicalisation, youth identity, belonging, and faith in an increasingly polarised world.

Premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema (Dramatic) category, "Brides" follows two British-Muslim teenage girls who run away from their troubled homes in search of belonging, only to confront the emotional weight of what they've left behind.

Also competing is acclaimed Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio's first musical drama "The Wave", which premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Loosely inspired by the 2018 Chilean feminist protests, the film follows Julia, a university student grappling with the trauma of sexual assault amid a growing social movement. Lelio blends choreography, chorus, and performance to turn collective rage into a cinematic symphony of empowerment and protest.

Iranian actor and screenwriter Ebrahim Amini's directorial debut "K Poper" is another notable entry. It follows an Iranian teenager obsessed with a Korean pop idol, determined to travel to Seoul to both watch him perform and compete in a contest she has qualified for. Her mother's refusal sparks a heartfelt clash between dreams, fears, and generational values.

Two powerful films set against the backdrop of civil wars in Kosovo and Africa are also in the running.

Award-winning Kosovan filmmaker Ujkan Hysaj's debut feature "Hana" tells the story of an actress who joins an art therapy programme at a women's rehabilitation centre, helping war survivors express their pain through creativity—until their stories awaken her own buried trauma.

Norwegian writer-filmmaker Eirik Svensson's "Safe House" offers a gripping portrayal of courage and compassion during the 2013 civil war in the Central African Republic. Set over fifteen tense hours inside a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Bangui, the film captures the ethics of care and humanity under siege.