In a rare move, two films tied for the best live-action short film Oscar — something that’s happened only six times before.
“The Singers,” directed by Sam A. Davis and produced by Jack Piatt, and “Two People Exchanging Saliva,” by Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata, won the coveted Academy Award on Sunday evening.
Kumail Nanjiani, who presented the award, made sure to make it clear that he wasn’t joking when he said there were two winners.
"It’s a tie. I’m not joking. It’s actually a tie," he said. "So everyone, calm down. We’re going to get through this!”
He then announced each winner individually, creating two awards speeches. Nanjiani joked between speeches, “Ironic that the short-film Oscar is going to take twice as long.”
The award was the first Oscar win and nomination for Piatt and the first win and the second nomination for Davis.
The “Two People Exchanging Saliva” team accepted their award second, with Musteata saying: “We are so happy to be sharing this Oscar with ‘The Singers.’ We love all of our fellow nominees.”
The award was Musteata and Singh’s first Oscar nomination and win.
Singh in his acceptance speech highlighted the diverse team that made the film and stressed that art can “change people’s souls.”
“Maybe it takes 10 years’ time, but we can change society through art, through creativity, through theater and ballet and also cinema,” he said to raucous laughter in the crowd. His line poked fun at Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet for his comments this month when he said “no one cares” about ballet and opera.
After their speeches, host Conan O’Brien joked: “I just want to say congratulations to both winners. You just ruined 22 million Oscar pools.”
Tonight marks the seventh tie in the Academy Award’s 98-year history.
The first was in 1932, when the match-up between Fredric March and Wallace Beery was deemed a tie for best actor. In 1968, Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand tied for best actress.
Before tonight’s tie in the live-action short race, the most recent was in 2012, when “Skyfall” and “Zero Dark Thirty” were both recognized for sound editing.