Charli XCX‘s taste in cinema helped shine a spotlight on a project that had a big night at the 2026 Oscars.
Two People Exchanging Saliva won the Academy Award for best live action short film, in a tie with The Singers. While addressing reporters in the press room after their win, co-directors Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata reflected on Charli XCX having given a favorable Letterboxd review in December to Two People Exchanging Saliva.
When asked whether they felt a bump in viewership after the music star’s praise, Musteata said, “We most certainly did. We didn’t figure it out until our friends starting texting us.”
Singh noted that Charli XCX’s review was a memorable moment on the project’s journey that included Vicky Krieps narrating the short film, in addition to Julianne Moore and Isabelle Huppert joining more recently as executive producers.
“I have a Letterboxd accout, and I follow Charli, and I leapt off my couch when she reviewed our film,” Singh said. “It was perhaps the most magical part of this process — perhaps aside from working with, obviously, Vicky Krieps, Isabelle Huppert and Julianne Moore.”
In assessing the project’s success, Musteata noted that the filmmaking team took pride in not watering down their vision. Two People Exchanging Saliva premiered at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival and is set in a society where kissing is punishable by death.
“We just made something that was pretty spiky, in an interesting way, and we made sure that, as we moved forward with the shoot and the editing, we never shaved off the edges of our ideas,” she said. “And I think that’s why all of these actresses were attracted to it.”
In December, Charli XCX posted to the popular film-discourse social platform that Two People Exchanging Saliva is “equal parts intimate and decadent” and added, “I really enjoyed this.” This led the film’s team to post to Instagram, “We LOVE her taste in film, so it was truly surreal to see her review of our film pop up on Letterboxd!!!” The project’s Oscar nomination was announced a month later.
Conan O’Brien hosted the Oscars 2026 ceremony from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. See the red carpet arrivals here.
