Watch Two People Exchanging Saliva Short Film (2024). A bold art film exploring the rawest form of human connection by Singh & Musteata.
💋⚰️ Two People Exchanging Saliva Short Film (2024) by Alexandre Singh & Natalie Musteata🎬
Two People Exchanging Saliva Short Film – A philosophical short film on intimacy & connection. Why do we share saliva? Watch the provocative 2024 art film by Singh & Musteata.
📋 Quick Facts
- Year: 2024 🗓️
- Runtime: 35-36 minutes ⏱️
- Countries: France, USA 🇫🇷🇺🇸
- Language: French (with subtitles) 🗣️
- Genre: Dystopian Drama, Queer Romance, Dark Comedy 🏳️🌈🖤
- Directors: Alexandre Singh & Natalie Musteata 🎥
- Status: Oscar-shortlisted, AFI Fest Grand Jury Prize winner 🏆
Watch the Trailer
Watch the shorts
🎭 Synopsis
Two People Exchanging Saliva Short Film (2024); In a dystopian society where kissing is punishable by death 💋⚰️ and people pay for goods by receiving slaps to the face 👋💰, a lonely, unhappily married woman named Angine (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) shops compulsively at a luxury department store.
There, she becomes fascinated by a playful young salesgirl, Malaise (Luàna Bajrami), and despite the prohibition, the two women develop an intimate, dangerous bond that raises suspicions and threatens catastrophic consequences 💔🔥
🌟 Cast & Creative Team
- Zar Amir Ebrahimi (Holy Spider) as Angine ⭐
- Luàna Bajrami (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) as Malaise 🎭
- Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) as Narrator 🎙️
- Aurélie Boquien as jealous colleague Pétulante 👀
- Directors: Artist Alexandre Singh & art historian Natalie Musteata (co-directorial debut) 🎨📚
- Cinematography: Alexandra de Saint Blanquat (stunning black-and-white) 📷
- Music: Bobak Lotfipour 🎵
- Producers: Violeta Kreimer, Valentina Merli, Misia Films 🎬
🏆 Major Awards & Festivals
- AFI Fest 2024: Grand Jury Prize – Live Action Short 🏆
- Clermont-Ferrand 2025: Audience Prize + Canal+ Award 🎉
- SFFILM: Golden Gate Award + Mid-Length Film Award 🌉
- Prishtina International Film Festival: Best Mid-Length Film 🇽🇰
- Out on Film: Best Drama Short 🏳️🌈
- Academy Awards: Shortlisted for Best Live Action Short Film (98th Oscars, 2026) 🎬
🎬 Visual & Narrative Style
- Striking black-and-white cinematography (shot at Galeries Lafayette Paris) ⚫⚪
- Absurdist tragicomedy balancing bleak premise with dark humor 😂🖤
- Surreal world-building: Slap-based economy, kissing = execution 🌍
- Erotic undertones: Face-slapping filmed with sensual intensity 🔥
- Tonal balance: “Sublime mix of comedy, drama, and romance” – critics 💫
💋 Key Themes
- Forbidden intimacy & desire 🚫❤️
- Queer love under authoritarian control 🏳️🌈⚠️
- Capitalism & bodily transaction 💰👋
- Resistance through connection ✊💞
- Surveillance & suspicion 👁️🗨️
📺 Where to Watch
- YouTube: Available to watch free! 📱
- The New Yorker: Premiered November 21, 2025 📰
- Streaming: Disney+ (select regions), Kanopy
- Festival circuit: 49+ festivals worldwide 🎪
🔥 Critical Reception
- “If Yorgos Lanthimos directed Carol. Genius.” 🤯
- “Fascinating dystopian world… visually stunning, erotic, achingly tragic” 😭
- “A small miracle of narrative compression and tonal balance” ✨
- “The slap-based economy was hilarious… yearning meter off the charts” 💔
- “Does (BRUTAL and NECESSARY) capitalist commentary through absurdity” 💥
💡 Production Context
Two People Exchanging Saliva Short Film (2024); Co-directors Singh (artist) and Musteata (curator/art historian) previously collaborated on The Appointment (2019). They intentionally built an imaginative, cathartic world rather than a literal metaphor. The film is being adapted into a feature film after its phenomenal success 🎬📈
Bottom Line: Two People Exchanging Saliva Short Film (2024); This 35-minute audacious masterpiece is a bold, beautifully crafted dystopian romance that uses absurdism to explore intimacy, control, and desire. With Oscar recognition, Netflix acquisition, and rave reviews, it’s essential viewing for fans of Yorgos Lanthimos, Carol, and fiercely original queer cinema! 🌟🏳️🌈