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Os Marnotos (The Saltworkers)

Os Marnotos (The Saltworkers) is a documentary short film about three generations of a family making sea salt by traditional methods in Aveiro, Portugal.

The film is a visually lyrical journey through a year of labor. The story unfolds through a narrative series of sequences that focus on the stark visuals of human bodies engaged in labor on the salt pan in the environment of the Aveiro estuary.

The black & white scenes are set to music with voice-over narration by Cláudio Banca, a 47-year-old marnoto (saltworker) who followed his grandfather and father into the craft. Cláudio hopes his sons will take over in the near future if forces outside their control don’t stop them.

  • Andy Cline
    Director
    A Vietnam Peace Story
  • Lara Soares
    Producer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Os Marnotos
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 12, 2026
  • Country of Origin:
    Portugal
  • Country of Filming:
    Portugal
  • Language:
    Portuguese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Andy Cline

Andy Cline is a documentary filmmaker based in Aveiro, Portugal. Cline is a Emeritus Professor of Media & Journalism at Missouri State University where he taught courses in documentary filmmaking, mobile/online journalism, and media ethics. He has worked as a documentary producer, director, and cinematographer on many award-winning films and humanitarian service projects. Cline co-founded Carbon Trace Productions in 2017 — a non-profit documentary studio for film students in Springfield, Missouri, with the dual mission of documentary education and humanitarian service.

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Director Statement

My artistic approach is informed by the documentary still photography of the mid 20th century. The documentary photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson said “Photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression.” This is Cartier-Bresson’s “decisive moment” — a sublime combination of the subject’s way of being combined with a visual organization that captures and comments on that way of being. Because my images move, I hope to sustain the significance and organizational form over time leading to this story’s proper expression. My goal for Os Marnotos is to discover the embodied forms of labor visualized within the context of a particular environment and historical practice.