in collaboration with
present
Photo by Raffaele Merler
Behind Green Lava. Filmed in the Dolomites, Trentino, Italy.
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About the film
A quest for meaning, wisdom, and love
GREEN LAVA takes place in the heart of the Dolomites, where 22-year-old Giacomo lives with muscular dystrophy but refuses to be defined by it. Between university lectures, football matches with friends, his small egg-selling enterprise, and precious moments with family, he carries forward the memory of his brother Mattia, lost to the same condition.
GREEN LAVA was produced in association with the Vatican.
Roadmap
Where this film goes
01
Theaters
The qualifying theatrical run at Music Hall Theater, Beverly Hills, September 18–24, 2026.
02
Faith communities
Through the collaboration with Vatican News, reaching Catholic media audiences worldwide.
03
The muscular dystrophy community
Screenings and outreach to families and patient organizations.
Specifics to be confirmed
04
Awards
The Oscar®-qualifying campaign for Best Documentary Short Film.
Cast statement
Why Green Lava
“For me, the film is an invitation to face life’s challenges with enthusiasm and resilience.”
Giacomo Mattivi
“Humans must live like lava, so as to not petrify.”
Italo Calvino, quoted in the film
Lava is the symbol in which Giacomo finds his own reflection: a quote from Italo Calvino, spoken in the film, about refusing to harden into stillness. Green is there because Giacomo wanted to become an agronomist.
GREEN LAVA is set in the Dolomites, a landscape of mountains, forests, rock, and volcanic-looking formations. Green evokes the living landscape: grass, forests, nature. Lava suggests something powerful, molten, and unstoppable beneath the surface.
Green
Life, nature, youth, growth: the Dolomite landscape Giacomo calls home.
Lava
Pain, force, struggle, grief: an inner energy that cannot be contained.
Together, they describe a life that looks serene on the surface and holds tremendous force underneath. On the outside, Giacomo’s life can appear ordinary: school, football with friends, time with family. Underneath it is an enormous struggle: his muscular dystrophy, the loss of his brother Mattia to the same condition, and his determination to find meaning and keep living fully.
The title is deliberately poetic rather than descriptive, much like the film itself, which holds the extraordinary beauty of the natural world against the extraordinary difficulty of Giacomo’s life.
Get involved
In three ways
Screenings
See it on the big screen
Sept 18–24
2026
Get ticketsMusic Hall Theater
9036 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Qualifying theatrical run
Coming soon
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New York, Rome, and additional cities to be announced
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Press
Press & media
“Green Lava:” Giacomo Mattivi’s strength of life expressed in film
As part of the Jubilee of Communication, the Augustinian Patristic Pontifical Institute hosted the premiere in Rome.
Read the article →
La inspiradora historia de Giacomo Mattivi: testimonio de amor por la vida y esperanza en el dolor
Giacomo Mattivi greets Pope Francis during the Jubilee of Communication in Rome. Photo: Vatican Media.
Read the article →Reactions
What people are saying
“Giacomo Mattivi’s strength of life, expressed in film.”
“An inspiring story: a testimony of love for life and hope inside pain.”
“For me, the film is an invitation to face life’s challenges with enthusiasm and resilience.”
FAQ
From the filmmakers
This film was born from a deeply personal and profound moment. After watching another documentary directed by Lia Beltrami, Burst of Song, where one of the young protagonists passed away during the making of the film, Giacomo approached Lia with a request that would change everything. With quiet determination, he asked if Lia would make a documentary about him, so that his story could live on beyond his time on this earth. It was a question that carried immense weight, but also an undeniable purpose. He wanted to be seen, to be remembered, and to share his journey in a way that could inspire and impact others. That moment became the heart of this film: an opportunity to honor his life, his resilience, and the legacy he wanted to leave behind.