Overview
- Green Lava will screen in Los Angeles at the Lumiére Music Hall Sept. 18–24 as producers complete the Academy documentation to enter the short-documentary qualifying process.
- The 39-minute film follows Giacomo Mattivi, a young Italian living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who copes with his brother Mattia’s death, and was shot in the Dolomites by directors Ali Aksu and Lia Beltrami.
- The short was produced by Vatican News, Radio Vaticana and Vatican Media in partnership with Emotions to Generate Change, reflecting a collaboration between Vatican communication arms and a social-impact company.
- Under Academy rules, the short-documentary category can qualify through specified theatrical runs and other criteria and does not require an official national submission, so Green Lava can compete without representing the Vatican as a state.
- If Green Lava advances through qualification and nomination stages the Oscars ceremony is scheduled for March 14, 2027, and a nomination would mark the first time a Vatican-produced film has sought Academy recognition, a move that could expand the Holy See’s cultural diplomacy through film.