Dallas-based photographer Matt Nager has been spending some time in Naples, Italy, working on a combination of moving and still photography. His fiancé Ivana Corsale is directing, editing and producing a film called Unhappy Country. Here’s a description of this documentary film:

For nearly two decades, Campania, the southern region of Italy where Naples is located, has witnessed an ongoing practice of illegal toxic material dumping in rural and inhabited areas. The management of waste material in the region has been in the hands of the Camorra – a mafia organization with vast economic and political power. Campania In-Felix (Unhappy Country) will explore the presumed connection between waste, health, environment and ecomafia in the area of the Triangle of Death between the towns of Acerra, Nola and Marigliano, recognized by local doctors as the most polluted area of the region.

Matt is working on the film as director of photography, and he has also been shooting a series of photos in conjunction with the documentary.  He has just finished editing the photos, which you can see on his website; they’re presented in somber and powerful triptychs.

The documentary has personal importance for the couple. “My fiance… is from Sicily,” Matt explained, “so the story hit home for her especially.” Matt and Ivana were first inspired by the book Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano, which is about the mafia organization called Camorra in Southern Italy. They took this further by looking specifically at Matt’s longstanding interest in “shooting stories on environmental issues and the effects on the communities involved.” Overall, said Matt, “the connection between social justice and the environment is what drew both of us to the project.”

Check out the trailer below.

-Asad