2018 Cannes Film Festival: Vanessa Redgrave and Sienna Miller Among Hosts at AmfAR Gala
WOMAN’S HOUR: Female directors may have gotten short shrift in the official lineup of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, with only three women-helmed films in competition, but amfAR’s annual Cinema Against AIDS gala should help make up for it.
The non-profit organization said on Tuesday it has selected 25 women from the worlds of fashion and film to be the honorary chairs of the event’s 25th edition, to be held at the H?tel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes on May 17.
They include Sienna Miller and Vanessa Redgrave — both vocal supporters of the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements — Katy Perry, Aishwarya Rai, Heidi Klum, Linda Evangelista, Angela Missoni and Donatella Versace.
The theme of this year’s Carine Roitfeld-curated benefit fashion show, starring 40 top models in one-of-a-kind looks from a range of brands, will be “And Woman Created All.”
?Grammy Award-winning artist Pharrell Williams? will be the night’s headlining act.
The late Dame Elizabeth Taylor — amfAR’s founding international chairman — hosted the foundation’s first ever Cannes gala in 1993, with personalities including President Bill Clinton, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Sir ?Elton John and Madonna carrying the torch in subsequent years.
Bold Films and Chopard are the main sponsors of this year’s gala. The fundraising event benefits AmfAR’s research efforts to find a cure for AIDS, including its Countdown to a Cure for AIDS initiative, introduced in 2014 and aimed at developing the scientific basis for a cure by the end of 2020.
The initiative’s cornerstone is the amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research, based at the University of California, San Francisco.
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