Elephant is a fictionalised account of the final hours of the victims and perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre. The film begins shortly before the tragic shooting and reveals the mechanisms of the nascent violence. The film stars mainly non-professional actors. Elephant won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Gus Van Sant has also directed My Own Private Idaho (1991), the Academy Award-winning Good Will Hunting (1997) and Milk (2008).