‘Two People Exchanging Saliva’ Feature Adaptation In the Works

Directors Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata have paired with Paris-based Misia Films for a feature adaptation of their award-winning short “Two People Exchanging Saliva.”

Narrated by Vicky Krieps, and starring Zar Amir Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider”) and Luana Bajrami (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”), the absurdist tragicomedy explores a dystopian world where kissing is punishable by death and transactions are made through slaps to the face. When a compulsive shopper makes eyes with a naïve salesgirl, the duo must kindle their spark in secret, especially once their bond begins to raise suspicions.

The short was selected by Barry Jenkins for a world premiere out of Telluride before winning the grand jury prize at AFI Fest, where the jury commended the film for “illustrat[ing] how desire and yearning can clash in a capitalistic society while showcasing queerness as commonplace.”

Directors Singh and Musteata most recently took home both the audience award and the Canal+ award at last week’s Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival. They will now develop their feature project through the Groupe Ouest lab in Brittany. Actors Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Luana Bajrami and Vicky Krieps have all expressed interest in returning.

“From the beginning, we knew that this world and these characters were so rich,” says Musteata. “The short is only 36 minutes long, leaving us so much to develop in this very crazy world.  There’s so much more to explore, and we have deep affection for all these characters – including the villain, I kid you not!”

“This whole process has been a learning experience,” says Singh. “Our backgrounds are in visual arts—I spent 20 years as a professional artist, and [Natalie] has a PhD in art history. One day, we started talking about making films together, but we definitely did not take a direct route. We certainly espouse a particular and odd kind of cinema.”

As part of the Clermont-Ferrand Canal+ prize, the French pay-tv service has picked up the short for broadcast and will pre-buy the filmmakers’ next (short-form) project.