[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2266714481.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tArtists and filmmakers Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata won the Oscar for best live action short film on Sunday for their dystopian short Two People Exchanging Saliva<\/em>. In a rare twist, however, they didn\u2019t take the prize alone. The award ended in a tie with the musical comedy short The Singers<\/em>.<\/p>\n Two People Exchanging Saliva<\/em> runs 36 minutes and is in French, while The Singers<\/em>, an 18-minute musical comedy directed by Sam Davis, follows a group of strangers who connect through music during a moment of widespread social isolation.<\/p>\n \n\tComedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani, who presented the award, seemed almost as surprised as the nominees. \u201cIt\u2019s a tie\u2014I\u2019m not joking, it\u2019s actually a tie,\u201d he said from the stage. \u201cEveryone calm down, we\u2019re going to get through this, focus up.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSingh and Musteata\u2019s film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and has since circulated widely on the international festival circuit. Set in present-day Paris, it imagines a society where kissing, and nearly any form of physical intimacy, is illegal and punishable by death. In this strange economy, customers pay for everyday goods with ritualized slaps delivered to store employees. The story follows Malaise, a department-store saleswoman, and Angine, an elegant regular customer, who struggle to suppress a growing attraction in a world where even minor transgressions can be fatal.<\/p>\n \n\tDuring his acceptance speech, Singh, who is known for his elaborate performances and narrative artworks, used the opportunity to take a light jab at recent comments by Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet. \u201cWe believe that art can change people\u2019s souls\u2026 we can change society through art and creativity, through theatre and ballet,\u201d he told the audience. <\/p>\n Afterward, Musteata described the win simply: \u201cIt\u2019s a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSingh has previously exhibited with galleries including Spr\u00fcth Magers and the now-closed Metro Pictures. Musteata, a writer and curator with a PhD in art history, has collaborated with him on numerous projects across exhibitions, films, and publications, including the exhibition \u201cA Gothic Tale\u201d and the short film The Appointment<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/natalie-musteata-alexandre-singh-oscar-winner-short-film-1234777492\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2266714481.jpg?w=1024″] Artists and filmmakers Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata won the Oscar for best live action short film on Sunday for their dystopian short Two People Exchanging Saliva. In a rare twist, however, they didn\u2019t take the prize alone. The award ended in a tie with the musical comedy short The Singers. Two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1830241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1830241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1830241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1830241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1830241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}