Pakistan, Feb. 5 -- For Iraqis who lived through the 1990s, dictator Saddam Hussein's birthday on April 28 was a disorientating day of celebration and propaganda.

Parties were staged across the sanctions-hit country to mark the occasion, while many public squares and bridges around Baghdad were decorated with coloured lights.

State radio played endless songs to the glory of the ruthless national leader and callers were asked to recount improvised poems in his honour.

In schools, children would be tasked with baking cakes for "Mr President" - the inspiration for a new film by 37-year-old Iraqi director Hasan Hadi which is making waves internationally.

"We had strategies to avoid being picked such as going to the bathroom during the dra...