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.
Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Luàna Bajrami, Aurélie Boquien, Vicky Krieps, Nicolas Bouchaud, Mitchell Jean, Mustapha Abourachid
France/USA
2024
In French with English subtitles
Mild violence
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
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
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
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
Late Fame
Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.
Memory of Princess Mumbi
In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.
Lessons of Darkness
Werner Herzog's unforgettable documentary reveals the unfolding disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames in 1991 as a sweeping inferno of mesmerizing power.
Beau Travail
Inspired by Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claire Denis' transfixing Beau Travail is set in East Africa. Sgt Galoup (Denis Lavant) reflects on his time in the French Foreign Legion, and the impact of the handsome Sentain (Gregoire Colin).
But I'm a Cheerleader
Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is the perfect All-American Girl, or so she thinks. That is until she’s shipped off to conversion therapy. This pitch black comedy is wrapped in a saccharine bow, featuring the icon herself, RuPaul, as a conversion counsellor.