After seeing Jon Shenk’s The Island President in Toronto, where it won the Cadillac Audience Choice Award for documentary, I called the film Oscar-worthy. But I wasn’t certain it could be nominated for the 2012 Academy Awards since it didn’t have a distributor.

Now it does. Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to the doc, which profiles Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed and follows the leader to the Copenhagen Climate Summit to discuss how his low-altitude nation is on the brink of disappearing beneath the rising sea level.

Goldwyn won’t be opening the film until February, but apparently producers of The Island President have already gone ahead and qualified for the Oscars on their own. If it’s nominated, and given it’s combination of message and entertainment value this is very likely, the time set for release will be perfect.

New Yorkers who want to see the doc early can try to get into tomorrow night’s DOC NYC Gala Screening, which will feature a Q&A with Shenk moderated by none other than Michael Moore.