It was the 75th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival this year and certainly the fest itself thought that alone was cause for celebration, and they did exactly that, but they were not the only ones with reason to party. As the pandemic cancelled the 2020 fest, and downsized the 2021 fest, there was definitely a feeling that it was time to party again in Cannes, just like it was 2019 all over again. And that certainly was the vibe when amFAR returned to form making money to benefit the continuing fight against AIDs, even if it seems that the cause has been overshadowed by Covid in recent times. amFAR chairmen T.Ryan Greenawalt and Kevin McClatchy made the point that while many countries were doing better, others weren’t, and they offered the troubling statistic that still there are 2000 AIDs-related deaths every day, and 4000 new infections daily.
Well amFAR’s annual very ritzy gala was back in full force Thursday night as the capper for the Cannes Film Festival party circuit, or should I say du Capper as it was back at it’s old hang, the Hotel du Cap for the first time in three years, and with many celebrities again taking part. The Red Sea International Film Festival and FTX were the presenting sponsors. Celebrating the return to old times were performers Christina Aguilera, Charli XCX, and Ricky Martin who had the bejeweled crowd jumping with his “Livin’ La Vida Loca”, an appropriate song for this bunch who clearly are doing just that.
The lavish tented party drew the familiar European crowd of high rollers (maybe minus the usual Russian contingent) bidding big ‘money is no object’ numbers for the likes of lunch in NYC with honored guest Robert De Niro plus an original painting by De Niro Sr ($540,000).
There was also a private guided Galapagos Cruise Experience on a yacht for a week with 12 of your closest friends, Chopard 18 karat white gold earrings ($250,000), a Chris Levine silk screen print of Queen Elizabeth for $225,000, a stainless steel Little Mermaid sculpture inspired by actress Emma Watson($215,000), the obligatory Carine Roitfeld-created fashion collection which this time had a marriage theme and included 40 wedding ensembles that collectively went for $800,000 (inspired by amFAR founding International Chairman Elizabeth Taylor’s impressive number of marriages}, and “An intimate evening with Andrea Bocelli and Family” where the iconic singer will perform for you at a dinner at one of his houses either in Tuscany or Miami Beach (your choice but WHO would go to Florida over Italy folks?). That one included a performance last night by his equally talented son, Matteo for the assembled crowd, and he threw in a second night of the same thing with both going for $1.2 million euros each. Among other items up on the block was a signed guitar by the stars of the new film Elvis as well as director Baz Luhrmann who helped auction it off for nearly $200,000.
At the cocktail party beforehand on the magnificent Du Cap property Luhrmann was still reeling from the reception his Elvis received at its world premiere in Cannes the night before where it won easily the longest standing ovation of the entire festival clocked at 10 minutes. “What really amazed me was that the audience actually applauded after every musical number,” Luhrmann told me. He attended amFAR with his daughter and Oscar winning wife Catherine Martin, who like always did the production design and costumes for the movie. He told me he was thrilled the way it played, and that it is a big screen experience, something he deeply believes in and hopes Elvis brings in the crowds in theatres when it opens June 24 thru Warner Bros. He may be lucky the pandemic delayed the production (you recall co-star Tom Hanks was the first big celebrity to get covid just as he was starting to film in Australia) because it might have wound up released in 2021 when Warner Bros day and dated all their movies with HBO Max. Now they are back to some sense of theatrical normality and Elvis gets at least a 45 day window. Baz is not a guy who makes his movies for television.
By the way the Elvis party at Princess Stephanie Beach on Wednesday night was a very hot ticket and totally packed. There was even a drone light show for various shades of Elvis just off the pier as part of the festivities. I have to say the Cannes parties for Baz Luhrmann movies are memorable to say the least. I reminded him of the one Warners did for Gatsby in the middle of what felt like a monsoon. People who braved it were getting soaked. He grimaced when I brought it up. Of course in 2000 Fox threw a hell of an unforgettable shindid for his Moulin Rouge that people are still talking about whenever they talk about parties in Cannes. Both those films went on to some serious Oscar attention after debuting in May at Cannes, and Warners tells me they are hoping Elvis can do the same thing.
In addition to Warners’ big bash which was also attended by new Warner Bros/Discovery head David Zaslav, Focus Features made their presence known at the fest with not one, but two parties for their films Armageddon Time and The Silent Twins, the latter having a lively bash that included an impromptu dance party and passing around sparklers to everyone in the room just to, uh, generate some heat for the movie. A24 which had 8, count ’em, 8 movies at Cannes and just bought another (the great Belgium movie from Lukas Dhant called Close which deserves to win the Palme d’Or and could be a real Oscar contender) had their party early in the festival and obviously had a lot to show off. Missing from Cannes though was the big Vanity Fair party, also usually at du Cap but not this year. I hear they may be moving it to the Venice Film Festival instead come September.
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