This is the annual amFAR Cinema Against AIDS banquet, which is traditionally a high point of the Cannes Film Festival.
This year’s featured guest: former president Bill Clinton, a movie buff, who asked those gathered in the opulent setting to remember those less fortunate. “You don’t have to read many novels or write many movies to realize everyone’s got a story,” he said. “Every time a child dies of AIDS somewhere in the world, the light goes out of the story.” Throughout the night, reference was made to the global financial crisis, which did curtail the usual grandeur, as fewer parties were held and fewer attendees filled the streets along the French Riviera. The banquet took place just outside of Cannes at the Hotel du Cap. Attendees included supermodels Svetlana Metkina and Lily Cole, actors Robert Pattinson, Robin Wright Penn and Michelle Yeoh, as well as filmmakers Eli Roth and Lars Von Trier. “I offered to donate my chest hair to charity, but Harvey said, ‘This is not one of your (expletive) horror movies, kid.’ ” Twilight actor Pattinson came up with an impromptu gift for the auction: a kiss on the cheek for anyone’s vampire-obsessed daughter. “And if it goes really well, maybe it’ll turn into something more,” he joked. He ended up selling two, $27,600 each. Other items up for grabs included an autographed Richard Avedon print of actress Natasha Kinski (went for $137,800) and a Fiat 500 customized by Renzo Rosso of Diesel ($110,260).
Among the most interesting: the alto sax Clinton played on The Arsenio Hall Show during his first run for the presidency. Though he did not play, he did sign the instrument, which fetched $179,000.