A 30-minute documentary made by 27 Villanova University students is one of seven finalists for the 2026 Student Academy Award in the documentary category, the university's student newspaper The Villanovan reported Monday.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected the finalists from 2,972 submitted films across all categories, including narrative, animated and experimental.

"Seeds We Bury," co-directed by Olivia Hansen ('25) and Soledad Robins ('26), follows the Ati Tribe of the Philippines and the Shinnecock Nation of Southampton, N.Y., as both communities fight to protect ancestral land. The student production company Pinctada Pearl Productions filmed on location in the Philippines and Southampton during semester breaks in the 2024-25 school year.

The film emerged from the Communication Department's social justice documentary course taught by Professor Hezekiah Lewis, a 1999 Villanova graduate. Lewis has run the program for years, sending student crews to locations including Ghana, Italy, Costa Rica, Tanzania, Kenya, Brazil and Morocco. In 2019, his course produced "Sankofa," which won the gold medal at the 46th Student Academy Awards after being selected from more than 1,600 entries.

"Seeds We Bury" now puts Villanova in contention for a second medal. Villanova's documentary program has produced multiple Student Academy Award finalists since 2014, but only "Sankofa" took home gold.

"The hardest part [was] there's so many things, so many stories we want to tell," Hansen told The Villanovan. "And yet, we only have 30 minutes to tell it. So I would say there was so, so, so much pressure. Probably the most pressure I've ever been and maybe will ever be in my life."

Beyond the filmmaking, the 27-member crew raised more than $21,000 for sustainable initiatives in the Philippines and Southampton. Sound operator Noel B. Doherty said the team plans to continue fundraising regardless of the award outcome, describing Lewis's philosophy as one where filmmakers don't "parachute in and harvest and then leave and never come back."