The Vatican will submit a documentary film for Oscar consideration for the first time in the Academy Awards’ 97-year history, Variety and official Vatican media reported this week.
Green Lava is a 2025 documentary produced by the Vatican and co-directed by Lia Beltrami and Ali Aksu. The 39-minute documentary centers on the real life story of Giacomo Mattivi, a 22 year-old Italian man from the Dolomites who suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a rare genetic condition primary affecting males that causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness, leading to significant deterioration of the skeletal, heart, and lung muscles. Giacomo’s brother, Mattia, suffered from the same rare condition and passed away in January 2022.
The documentary is set to premiere at the Lumiere Music Hall in Beverly Hills, California on Friday, September 18 in Los Angeles, and screenings will run through September 24. The documentary was originally aired by the Vatican in Rome in January 2025, during the Jubilee of the World of Communications.
“Giacomo’s story deserves to be known by everyone, and that is why we are delighted about the opportunity to include ‘Green Lava’ in the Oscar submission process,” Paolo Ruffini, the head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, told Variety in a statement.
Ruffini praised Green Lava as a “story that is a celebration of life and friendship” that teaches the “richness that the lives of people marked by illness can bear witness to and offer, as well as the vitality they can bring to the relationships around them.”
Director Lia Beltrami detailed to Variety that she lives in the same village as Mattivi and his family. She said that the people who liven the Italian Dolomites are “very special people who care and tend to their families and their communities.”
“It is beautiful to see in today’s world that the community has rallied around Giacomo, they treat him automatically with kindness and inclusion,” Beltrami said. “It is my hope that the world will see this film and be inspired to be like the people of the mountains.”
Vatican News emphasized on Friday that Mattivi’s story has been largely featured by Vatican media as a inspiring tale — as Mattivi, despite the hardships that his condition imposes, is an active student of sociology, works as a catechist, and writes poetry, while pursuing other personal passions such as cinema and music. Mattivi also held several encounters with the late Pope Francis, with their last meeting taking place in January 2025, months after the late pope passed away.
In 2024, a five-part podcast series produced by the Vatican Radio titled, “Giacomo’s Talent: The Journey of a Young Poet from Disability to Inspiration” narrated the young man’s life and how the loss of his brother became a source of creativity and openness to others, showing his passions, the love of his family, and his faith in God. Vatican News pointed out on Friday that the 2024 podcast series “foreshadowed” the themes explored in the Green Lava documentary.
In a statement shared with Vatican Media on Friday, Giacomo Mattivi expressed to be “truly happy and excited about this moment,” now that Green Lava “has reached a wider audience and will reach so many people.” Mattivi affirmed that, in his opinion, the film can be a “key to seeing the best that exists within each of us.”
Per Vatican News, Mattivi said that the prospect of entering the Oscars race is not a source of personal pride, but as an opportunity for the documentary’s message to reach as many people as possible.
“If you look at illness from another perspective, you understand many things about the way the world works, about suffering, and even about its meaning, which is sometimes not easy to understand,” Mattivi said.
“Telling Giacomo’s story was a great challenge. His strength, his joy in living, and the depth of his being touch every cell in your body.” Director Lia Beltrami told Vatican News, stressing that the lives of Giacomo, his late brother Mattia, and the community where they come from are an “example of authenticity and solidarity, of a living Gospel.”
Beltramo emphasized to Vatican News that bringing the documentary to Hollywood is a great opportunity to show “how meaningful a life live in faith can be.”