''Salute'' (occasionally known as ''Salute: The Peter Norman Story'') is a 2008 Australian

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed, produced and written by Matt Norman. It tells the role of

Peter Norman Peter George Norman (15 June 1942 – 3 October 2006) was an Australian track athlete. He won the silver medal in the 200 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, with a time of 20.06 seconds, which remained the Oceania 200 m recor ...

, Norman's uncle, in a defining moment of the American civil rights movement: the

1968 Olympics Black Power salute During their medal ceremony in the Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Olympic Stadium in Mexico City on October 16, 1968, two African-American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, each Raised fist, raised a black-gloved fist during the playing ...

Synopsis

The film provides an insight into an incident at the 1968 Summer Olympics which saw two United States athletes,

Tommie Smith Tommie C. Smith (born June 6, 1944) is an American former track and field athlete and wide receiver in the American Football League. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, Smith, aged 24, won the 200-meter sprint finals and gold medal in 19.83 sec ...

and

John Carlos John Wesley Carlos (born June 5, 1945) is an American former track and field athlete and professional football player. He was the bronze-medal winner in the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics, where he displayed the Black Power salute on th ...

, give the

black power Black power is a list of political slogans, political slogan and a name which is given to various associated ideologies which aim to achieve self-determination for black people. It is primarily, but not exclusively, used in the United States b ...

salute from the victory dais after the 200 metres final. The film focuses on the third man on the dais,

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

winner Peter Norman, who showed his support for Smith and Carlos by donning an "

Olympic Project for Human Rights The Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) was an American organization established by sociologist Harry Edwards and multiple Black American athletes, including noted Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, on October 7, 1967. The pu ...

" (OPHR) badge on his way to the podium. It was also Norman who suggested to Smith and Carlos that they share the black gloves used in their salute, after Carlos had left his gloves in the

Olympic Village An Olympic Village is a residential complex built or reassigned for the Olympic Games in or nearby the List of Olympic Games host cities, host city for the purpose of accommodating all of the delegations. Olympic Villages are usually located clos ...

. This is the reason for Smith raising his right fist, while Carlos raised his left. Asked later about his support of Smith and Carlos' cause by the world's press, Norman said he opposed his country's government's White Australia policy. The film documents the subsequent reprimand of Norman by the Australian Olympic authorities, and his ostracism by the Australian media. Despite Norman running qualifying times for both the 100m and 200m during 1971/72, the Australian Olympic track team did not send him to the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. It also documents Norman's reunion with Smith and Carlos, shortly before his death in 2006. The film debuted at the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. , the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

on 8 June 2008. It was released Australia-wide on 17 July 2008.

Cast

as himself *

as himself

Background

While there had been attempts by American filmmakers to put together a piece on the event, these earlier films had overlooked the actions of Peter Norman. As a result, Matt Norman realised that the full story of his famous uncle had never been told and began filming ''Salute'' at the end of 2002. With the help of the

Film Finance Corporation The Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) was the government agency responsible for funding commercial productions of Australian film, documentary, and television from 1988 to 2008. Unlike other publicly funded organisations responsible for f ...

and his local funding body

Film Victoria VicScreen, formerly known as Film Victoria, is the Victoria State Government's creative and economic screen development agency. It supports screen industry professionals, infrastructure, projects and events, promoting the state of Victoria as ...

, Norman raised close to two million dollars for post production of the film. In 2008, Andrew Mackie and Richard Payton of Transmission films were signed on as Australian distributors and later brought on board Paramount Pictures Australia to release the film nationally in cinemas throughout Australia.

Awards

* 2009 – Won - Atlanta International Documentary Film Festival (aka Atlanta DocuFest): Best Social Documentary * 2009 – Won - Santa Cruz Film Festival: Jury Award – Best Documentary Feature * 2009 – Nominated - Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards: FCCA Award - Best Feature Documentary * 2008 – Won -

: Audience Award - Best Australian Documentary * 2008 – Won -

Rhode Island Film Festival Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) takes place every year in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island as well as satellite locations throughout the state. Started in 1997, the Festival is produced by Flickers, the Newpor ...

: Audience Award – Best Documentary

Box office

''Salute'' grossed $233,411 at the box office in Australia.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Salute 2008 films Paramount Pictures films Documentary films about the Olympics Australian sports documentary films Black Power Documentary films about historical events Films about the 1968 Summer Olympics Films scored by David Hirschfelder 2008 documentary films 2000s English-language films 2000s Australian films English-language documentary films