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The article covers Alexandre Singh, an Indian-origin filmmaker who won the Oscar for Best Live-Action Short Film (in a rare tie) for 'Two People Exchanging Saliva', co-directed with Natalie Musteata. It outlines his background in the contemporary art world and how that translates into his filmmaking, which is shaped by constructed sets and performance-driven storytelling. The piece also focuses on the film itself — set in a world where intimacy is criminalised — using that premise to explore control over desire, the policing of relationships, and the absurdity of systems that regulate personal freedom.
Indian-origin filmmaker Alexandre Singh won the Oscar for Best Live-Action Short Film at the 98th Academy Awards on March 15, 2026, for co-directing 'Two People Exchanging Saliva' with Natalie Musteata. The award was shared in a rare tie, placing the film among a small set of winners in the category’s history to do so. The 36-minute French-language short had already travelled across major festivals, including a premiere at Telluride, and built momentum through 2025 before arriving at the Oscars with strong visibility.
Alexandre Singh is a French filmmaker of Indian origin, born in Bordeaux to Indian and French parents, and raised in Manchester in the UK. His early practice developed within the contemporary art world, where he exhibited at institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Guggenheim. His work in this space focused on constructed environments, staged narratives, and image-making that often drew from literature, theatre, and visual art traditions. This foundation feeds directly into how he approaches filmmaking today, especially in the way his films are structured and designed.
Over the years, Alexandre expanded his practice into cinema, directing short films like Plan large (2016) and The Appointment (2019). His collaboration with his now wife Natalie Musteata, an Armenian art historian and filmmaker, has been a consistent part of this phase, with both working closely on projects that combine visual composition with narrative storytelling. Their films tend to rely on carefully built settings and deliberate performances, where the environment shapes the tone and progression of the story as much as the characters themselves.
Two People Exchanging Saliva is set in a fictional society where kissing is illegal and physical intimacy is tightly controlled. Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata developed this premise by drawing on the absurdity of real-world laws and regimes that police intimacy while allowing other forms of violence to pass as routine. Shaped by their background in visual art, the story unfolds within a controlled, constructed setting—a luxury Parisian department store where hierarchies of power and consumer behaviour play out through everyday exchanges. The idea was also informed by incidents like an Iranian couple being arrested for dancing, extending those observations into a system where desire itself becomes punishable. The story is an extension of the reality where anti-LGBTQ+ laws and other forms of social control continue to police love and its expression.
Watch the short film below:
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