Skip to main content
Two People Exchanging Saliva film image; close on woman with bruises on her face and a bleeding nose

Two People Exchanging Saliva

Deux Personnes échangeant de la Salive

VIFF Short Forum

Canadian Premiere

Angine, a rich housewife, and Malaise, a shop girl, begin to form a bond in a repressive society where kissing is punishable by death.

Directors
Cast

Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Luàna Bajrami, Aurélie Boquien, Vicky Krieps, Nicolas Bouchaud, Mitchell Jean, Mustapha Abourachid

Credits
Country of Origin

France/USA

Year

2024

Language

In French with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
Content Warning

Mild violence

18+
36 min
Award Winners Drama LGBTQIA2S+ Romance Shorts Talent to Watch Women Directors
Alambic Production

Credits & Director

Producer

Violeta Kreimer, Valentina Merli, Natalie Musteata, Carol Cohen

Screenwriter

Natalie Musteata, Alexandre Singh

Cinematography

Alexandra de Saint Blanquat

Editor

Hanna Park

Production Design

Anna Brun

Original Music

Bobak Lotfipour

Alexandre Singh headshot

Alexandre Singh

Alexandre Singh is a Brooklyn-based visual artist who was born in Bordeaux, France, to Indian and French parents, and raised in Manchester, UK. Singh’s work is inspired by a love of imaginative storytelling and encompasses diverse practices such as writing, collage, installation, and performance. His works are represented in numerous collections that include the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris. In 2019, Singh made his debut short film, The Appointment, which premiered at the Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco. Two People Exchanging Saliva is his second film.

Natalie Musteata headshot

Natalie Musteata

Natalie Musteata is a writer, curator, and filmmaker. She holds a doctorate in art history and a master’s in film from The Graduate Center, CUNY, and has curated of several exhibitions including if I can’t dance to it, it’s not my revolution (Haverford College) and UNREST: Revolt against Reason (apexart). In 2018, she began collaborating with contemporary artist Alexandre Singh, and she produced Singh’s richly imaginative short film The Appointment (2019), which played in over 40 film festivals and won several awards. Their second film, Two People Exchanging Saliva, premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2024.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

The Blue Caftan

Dir. Maryam Touzani
122 min

Richly erotic and deeply moving, Maryam Touzani’s queer-themed film takes us to urban Morocco and into the lives of three beautiful souls. Halim is a master tailor; Mina is his loyal wife; Youssef is the man who slowly comes between them.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Sun Never Sets

Dir. Joe Swanberg
102 min

At the suggestion of her much older (divorced) boyfriend, Wendy (Dakota Fanning) takes a summer to reevaluate her life and date other people. She's reluctant at first, but then reconnects with an old flame... A gentle indie comedy from Joe Swanberg.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Hanging by a Wire

Dir. Mohammed Ali Naqvi
78 min

The Himalayas, Aug 22, 2023: a cable car bearing 8 passengers (six of them schoolkids) is left dangling 900 feet above the ground when two out of three cables snap. This nailbiting documentary recounts the increasingly frantic rescue attempts.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Andrei Rublev

Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
183 min

Andrei Tarkovsky's vast and vivid episodic epic tells the story of a Russian monk and painter of religious icons 1400-1428, during the time of the Tartar invasions.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Union County

Dir. Adam Meeks
97 min

In this authentically grounded addiction recovery drama, Will Poulter and Noah Centenio are foster brothers trying to get out from their dependence on opioids through a progressive government program in Ohio.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

PULP: What Do You Do For an Encore?

Dir. Garth Jennings
90 min

Always the coolest of the Britpop bands, Jarvis Cocker's Pulp commemorated 40 years of music and friendship with a reunion tour and film, with Sing director Garth Jennings at the helm.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema