Administrators Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata have paired with Paris-based Misia Movies for a characteristic adaptation of their award-winning brief “Two Folks Exchanging Saliva.”
Narrated by Vicky Krieps, and starring Zar Amir Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider”) and Luana Bajrami (“Portrait of a Woman on Fireplace”), the absurdist tragicomedy explores a dystopian world the place kissing is punishable by loss of life and transactions are made by means of slaps to the face. When a compulsive shopper makes eyes with a naïve salesgirl, the duo should kindle their spark in secret, particularly as soon as their bond begins to lift suspicions.
The brief was chosen by Barry Jenkins for a world premiere out of Telluride earlier than successful the grand jury prize at AFI Fest, the place the jury recommended the movie for “illustrat[ing] how want and craving can conflict in a capitalistic society whereas showcasing queerness as commonplace.”
Misia Movies
Administrators Singh and Musteata most not too long ago took house each the viewers award and the Canal+ award ultimately week’s Clermont-Ferrand Quick Movie Pageant. They may now develop their characteristic challenge by means of the Groupe Ouest lab in Brittany. Actors Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Luana Bajrami and Vicky Krieps have all expressed curiosity in returning.
“From the start, we knew that this world and these characters have been so wealthy,” says Musteata. “The brief is simply 36 minutes lengthy, leaving us a lot to develop on this very loopy world. There’s a lot extra to discover, and we have now deep affection for all these characters – together with the villain, I child you not!”
“This complete course of has been a studying expertise,” says Singh. “Our backgrounds are in visible arts—I spent 20 years as an expert artist, and [Natalie] has a PhD in artwork historical past. In the future, we began speaking about making movies collectively, however we undoubtedly didn’t take a direct route. We actually espouse a selected and odd sort of cinema.”
As a part of the Clermont-Ferrand Canal+ prize, the French pay-tv service has picked up the brief for broadcast and can pre-buy the filmmakers’ subsequent (short-form) challenge.
