Filmmaker Alexandre Singh recently won an Academy Award in the Live Action Short Film category for the film Two People Exchanging Saliva, which he co-directed with Natalie Musteata. The award was presented at the Academy Awards, where the category saw a rare tie this year. Another film, The Singers by directors Sam A Davis and Jack Piatt, also shared the honour.
Singh’s victory has drawn attention not only for the film but also for his personal story and Indian roots. His father migrated from Punjab, India, to the United Kingdom in the 1960s, a time when immigration from South Asia was still rare and often challenging.
His Family Background and Early Life
Alexandre Singh was born in 1980 in Bordeaux, France, to an Indian father and a French mother. His father had moved from Punjab to the UK during the 1960s and later married a French woman. Singh has often spoken about the struggles his father faced as an immigrant during that period.
Recalling his father’s journey, Singh said that when his father arrived in Britain wearing a beard and turban, the reception was difficult due to social attitudes toward immigrants at the time. Despite the challenges, his father pursued higher education and went on to earn a BA, MSc, and PhD, eventually building a successful academic career.
The filmmaker has also shared that his father deeply appreciated Western culture, including music by The Beatles, and developed a love for France and French culture, which ultimately led to meeting Singh’s mother.
However, Singh lost his father when he was just 21 years old, something he says affected his connection to his Indian heritage. He has spoken about feeling that the loss created a gap in his understanding of his family’s cultural roots.
Education and Artistic Journey
Singh later pursued fine arts at the University of Oxford, where he studied visual arts and filmmaking. He has mentioned that choosing an artistic career was initially difficult for his father to accept, as many immigrant families often preferred more conventional professions.
Before winning an Oscar, Singh directed several short films, including The Appointment (2019) and Plan Large (2016), gradually building his reputation as an experimental filmmaker working across cinema, theatre, and visual arts.
About the Oscar-Winning Film
The award-winning film Two People Exchanging Saliva is a French-language short drama released in 2024 and co-produced by the United States and France. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in August 2024 before gaining wider recognition during the awards season.
During his acceptance speech at the Oscars, Singh spoke about the transformative power of art. He said creativity, theatre, cinema, and other forms of artistic expression can gradually influence society and shape how people think.
Ties at the Oscars are rare. The last major tie occurred in 2013 when Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall shared the award for sound editing.
Singh’s win has highlighted the global journeys of artists with multicultural backgrounds and the continued influence of immigrant stories in shaping contemporary cinema.
