"Diarios de motocicleta" (The Motorcycle Diaries) by Walter Salles and "Moolaadé" by Ousmane Sembène are the award winners of the Ecumenical Jury in Cannes 2004. The Golden Palm went to "Fahrenheit 9/11" by Michael Moore.
Moolaadé takes a stand against an extreme Islamic position which uses religion abusively to submit young girls to female circumcision. The village women themselves impose a change. In a film which fully uses local colour and detail of African life, Ousmane Sembène combines the traditional with the modern to make the village a film set for his didactic tale.
Walter Salles employs the traditional and symbolic conventions of the road movie to portray young medical student, Ernesto Guevara’s discovery of compassion for the oppressed in 1950s South America. The audience shares in the origins of the vocation of an iconic revolutionary figure committed to justice. The film draws attention to social and political problems which have not yet been resolved.