Natalie Musteata

🏆🏆 The most surreal night of our lives!! We won an Oscar!!! Thank you to our team and supporters and the academy for this incredible recognition. We’ll cherish it for the rest of our lives. @theacademy Thank you to David Yurman for the beautiful starburst jewelry @davidyurman & @tabvintage for the gorgeous Chanel dress. And thank you to Zar Amir, the heart of our film, who couldn’t be with us because she just gave birth to a baby girl, Nila Jane. Big big kiss to one of our favorite people @zaramirebrahimi ❤️💋❤️ TWO PEOPLE EXCHANGING SALIVA is available worldwide on The New Yorker @newyorkermag and on Canal+ in France and French speaking territories. #oscars #oscars2026 #oscarwinner

Two People Exchanging Saliva wins the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film ! 🏆 A moment of pure joy for everyone who brought this film to life… On stage, a moment to name “Nila Jane”, as just two days earlier, @zaramirebrahimi had welcomed her daughter into the world. Cinema and life meeting in the same breath... “Nila Jane, you are the hope in a world that is dark, and absurd and ridiculous and horrifying. But that is why we make films, isn’t it? Because we believe that art can change people’s souls…” - Alexandre Singh @two_people_exchanging_saliva is written and directed by @nmusteata and Alexandre Singh, produced by @misiafilms in association with Alambic Production, and executive produced by @isabelle.huppert and @juliannemoore —🫂 #oscars #twopeopleexchangingsaliva Two People Exchanging Saliva remporte l’Oscar du Meilleur Court Métrage en Prise de Vue Réelle ! 🏆Un moment de pure joie pour toutes celles et ceux qui ont donné vie à ce film. Sur scène, un moment pour prononcer le nom de « Nila Jane », alors que deux jours plus tôt, @zaramirebrahimi avait accueilli sa fille au monde. Le cinéma et la vie se rencontrant dans un même souffle… « Nila Jane, tu es l’espoir dans un monde sombre, absurde, ridicule et terrifiant. Mais c’est pour cela que nous faisons des films, n’est-ce pas ? Parce que nous croyons que l’art peut transformer l’âme des gens… » — Alexandre Singh Écrit et réalisé par Natalie Musteata et Alexandre Singh, le film est produit par Misia Films en association avec Alambic Production, et produit exécutivement par Isabelle Huppert et Julianne Moore. —

We’re so honored to be in Filmmaker Magazine’s « 25 New Faces of Independent Film »!! Many thanks to Scott Macaulay for his thoughtful writing and to Caleb Hammond for supporting our work 🙏🏻 @bugjack @filmmakermag @faintinginpublic Thanks as always go to our incredible film collaborators and friends, many too many to name, @misiafilms @alambicproduction @artcccorp @galeriedesgaleries @manifest_pictures @violetak @zaramirebrahimi @luana.bajrami @aurelieboquien.comedienne @rezvanfarsijani @annanabr @alex_sblanquat And I don’t thank them enough, but my parents not only raised me but introduced me to cinema first 🫶🏻@roxanamarcoci @cristian_alexa And finally thanks to our dear friend Tudor Cucu for taking this photo of us as well as all our set photos! @tudorcucu 🙌🏻

save the date 💌 5 iunie || 18:30 || Cinema Elvire Popesco. După succesul răsunător obținut anul acesta la Premiile Oscar, regizoarea Natalie Musteata va fi prezentă la București, împreună cu Alexandre Singh, pentru premiera în România a filmului Two People Exchanging Saliva și o întâlnire extinsă cu publicul cinefil pe 5 iunie, la Cinema Elvire Popesco. Two People Exchanging Saliva este un scurtmetraj distopic plasat într-o societate absurdă în care sărutul este interzis și intimitatea este pedepsită drastic, iar banii sunt înlocuiți de palme peste față, pentru a diferenția direct bogații de restul lumii.

The Oscars in black and white 🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤 📸 by @sebastiencauchon #oscars #oscarwinner

Rolling up to the Vanity Fair Oscars’ afterparty with our little golden men and our amazing team! 🏆❤️ @vanityfair Thank you David Yurman for the beautiful jewels 💎 @davidyurman #oscars #oscarwinner

Natalie Musteata won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 2026 Academy Awards for TWO PEOPLE EXCHANGING SALIVA, co-directed with her husband, Alexandre Singh. The win resulted in a rare tie, only the seventh in Oscar history. Armenian Film Society was the first to report Natalie Musteata’s Armenian heritage. In an exclusive interview with Armenian Film Society, Natalie Musteata shared personal insights into her background and provided rare photographs of her grandmother. Natalie Musteata’s maternal grandmother, Luiza Derderian-Marcoci (January 14, 1926 – August 26, 1999), was born into an Armenian family. Luiza Derderian-Marcoci was an accomplished actress, and had a decades-long career spanning stage, television, and radio. In the years between 1949 and 1980, she performed extensively on stage in Romania, and continued her theatrical work in New York in the 1980s with the Hamazkain Theatrical Group. Natalie Musteata shares that her grandmother spoke to her in both Armenian and Romanian, and although she grew up speaking Armenian, she lost the language after her grandmother’s passing. Luiza Derderian-Marcoci’s daughter, and Natalie Musteata’s mother, Roxana Marcoci, is Senior Curator in the Department of Photography at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Natalie Musteata is a writer, curator, and filmmaker who holds a Doctorate in Art History and a Master’s degree in Film from The Graduate Center.

One Minute with… Oscars Edition 🎬✨ At our Morning After Oscars Brunch at the French Residence, we had the pleasure of chatting with Natalie Musteata and Alexander Singh, Academy Award winners in the Best Live Action Short Film category for Two People Exchanging Saliva! We got their take on all things Oscars 👀✨ From surprise picks to standout moments… safe to say, they delivered 🎬🔥

Natalie Musteata @nmusteata et Alexandre Singh, les réalisateurs de « Deux personnes échangeant de la salive » @two_people_exchanging_saliva , le court-métrage français récompensé d’un Oscar, dimanche soir à Los Angeles, étaient les vedettes du déjeuner organisé à la Résidence de France de Beverly Hills @franceinla , ce lundi 16 mars, en présence d’un parterre de personnalités du cinéma français.

“But that slap. A punishment, a payment, a seduction, all at once. I could wax on about the allusive power of the film, its potential for mirroring our own sick societies. But what most interests me in this unnerving work is the slapping.” @doreenstfelix @nmusteata @two_people_exchanging_saliva won an Oscar by showing us how deeply they care about cinema and the lengths they would go to create art at the highest level. Their integrity and generosity is rare and we are so lucky to be part of the beautiful and weird world that you built. Thank you for bringing us alongside you for this insane, ridiculously fun ride

La joie et la tristesse en même temps après l’Oscar, leur fête avec Jay Z et Taylor Swift, et les projets pour après: @lepetitjournal_losangeles a rencontré @nmusteata et Alexandre Singh, qui ont reçu une statuette dorée pour leur court-métrage, Deux personnes échangeant de la salive.

✨ 🇱🇺 Huge congratulations to Luxembourg actress @vickykrieps who played a part in the #Oscars2026 success story, even though audiences never saw her on screen 😎 ⭐️ The Luxembourg star provided the voice-over narration for the dystopian short film “Deux Personnes échangeant de la salive” @two_people_exchanging_saliva which won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film in Los Angeles on Sunday night 🏆 ⭐️ Directed by @nmusteata and Alexandre Singh, the 36-minute French production shared the prize with “The Singers” by Sam A. Davis following a rare tie vote by members of @theacademy 🤝 It’s inspiring to see European talent shining on the global stage at every step of the storytelling process, from behind the scenes to center stage. At Belwest, we are proud to support European creatives and coproductions who are shaping the magic of the screen and helping transform the industry every day. 👉 For more information on how we can support your projects, please contact our Entertainment Leader Constance Powis or Paul Comrie, our Chapter Leader in Luxembourg (link in oue bio). 📸 Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty & @sofiamalamute @filmfundlux | @luxembourg_lets_make_it_happen | @misiafilms | @alambicproduction