May 28, 2003 - 11:31 a.m.

Jt LeRoy is Associate Producer on Gus Van Sant's new film, Elephant which

just scooped the Palme d'Or and the best director award Sunday at the 56th

Festival de Cannes.


Reuters:

'Elephant' Gets Rare Double at Cannes Nods

Mon May 26, 2003 08:14 PM ET

By Charles Masters


CANNES (Hollywood Reporter) - Gus Van Sant's minimalist take on the

Columbine high school massacre, "Elephant," scooped the Palme d'Or and the

best director award Sunday at the 56th Festival de Cannes.


The last time an American movie took the Palme was in 1994, when "Pulp

Fiction" won for Quentin Tarantino.


The jury, headed by French actor-writer-director Patrice Chereau, chose to

spread its main awards across just three movies, the other two being "Uzak"

(Distant), directed by Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and "The Barbarian

Invasions" from Quebecois writer-director Denys Arcand.


For "Elephant," Chereau said he had made a special request to festival

president Gilles Jacob to waive the rule that forbids giving more than one

prize to the same movie, with the exception of acting awards. This rule was

introduced after the Coen brothers' "Barton Fink" won the Palme d'Or and the

best director award in 1991.


"Elephant," which used a nonprofessional cast, was produced by HBO Films,

Meno Film Co. and Blue Relief.



Poetic and painterly, it is more documentary than drama. The music of

Beethoven sets the tone and Van Sant sculpts sound and light as he seeks to

rescue moments of beauty from the clutches of unfathomable tragedy.


Prod co: HBO Films

Int'l sales: HBO Films London

Exec prods: Diane Keaton, Bill Robinson

Prod: Dany Wolf

Scr: Gus Van Sant

Cinematography: Harris Savides

Ed: Gus Van Sant

Sound des: Leslie Shatz

Main cast: Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, John Robinson, Elias McConnell, Timothy Bottoms