Update: Claims about Oscar-winning Natalia Musteatа's "Armenian heritage" unconfirmed — revised

March 20, 2026

Update: Following the publication of this article, new interviews with filmmaker Natalia Musteatа have emerged in which she speaks about her Armenian heritage. This information had not previously been recorded in open sources, and on that basis the earlier assessment has been revised. Details here.

Armenian media outlets have reported that Natalia Musteata, the award-winning film director at the March 15 Academy Awards ceremony, has Armenian roots.

"Natalie Musteata of Armenian Descent Wins Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film," wrote Zartonk Media. 

However, Musteata has stated in all her interviews that she is of Romanian origin, and no source other than the Armenian outlets mentioned above has referenced any Armenian roots. 

Where did the claim of Armenian ethnicity come from?

At the 98th Academy Awards ceremony held on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, Natalia Musteata and Alexandre Singh's film "Two People Exchanging Saliva" won the award for best live action short film. The film is a French-language dystopian work.

Reporting on Musteata's Oscar win, the Armenian outlets claimed that the director had spoken about her Armenian roots in an interview earlier this month with screenwriter John August.

"My family’s from Armenia. They went to France in exile. I grew up with the two languages," Musteata was purportedly quoted as saying.

However, in the audio interview with John August, it is not clearly audible whether Musteata says "Armenia" or "Romania." The sonic similarity between these two words most likely caused the confusion. 

Does Natalia Musteata have Armenian roots?

#CivilNetCheck reviewed Musteata's other interviews, in which she clearly states that she is from Romania. In a 2025 interview with the American outlet Gold Derby, for instance, Musteata spoke about her family history. 

"I should say that my family comes from the Romanian community — they moved to the United States as exiles, and I grew up hearing a lot of these absurd stories that didn't seem real," Musteata said. 

In an interview conducted for the American website Metrograph, Natalia Musteata and her husband, Alexandre Singh, who is also the film's co-director and screenwriter, sat down with actress Zar Amir. The biographical note at the end of the publication identifies Musteata as a Romanian-American director. 

In another interview, discussing her fluency in French, Musteata again referenced her Romanian roots, noting that her first languages were Romanian and French.

"I was born in New York. I am an American, but my whole family comes from Romania… They all fled communist Romania and were in exile in France, so my first languages were French and Romanian, and then I learned English," Musteata said. 

Thus, there is no evidence to support the claim Natalia Musteata is of Armenian descent.