amfAR Gala Cannes 2021: Nina Dobrev, Sharon Stone, Orlando Bloom line up for AIDS research

The amfAR Gala event at Cannes 2021—a charity event for raising funds towards AIDS research that is in its 27th year—hosted a smaller number of celebrity guests owing to the pandemic. The guest list ranged from 400 to 900 people and was in accordance with COVID-19 protocols.

Hollywood stars including Nina Dobrev, Regina King, Orlando Bloom, Stella Maxwell, Darren Criss, Spike Lee and many others came dressed to perfection to mark their attendance at the event.

This year’s theme was ‘I am a Movie Star’ and a fashion show was curated by Carine Roitfeld. The event was hosted by Sharon Stone while Alicia Keys gave a mesmerising performance during the fashion show that was conducted on Friday evening. 

Indian actress Amy Jackson was also present at the event, looking drop-dead gorgeous in a shimmery black gown with plunging neckline. 

“It is beautiful, it is overwhelming, it is exciting, it is great to stay on mission here. I think we're staying on mission and we're back at it which is really nice,” Stone, who is a long-time amfAR Global Campaign Chair and AIDS activist, said before the main event started, noting that some of the science used to fight HIV and AIDS was deployed against COVID-19. 

This year's festival jury president Spike Lee made a star-studded entry with an elaborate guest list from the world of music, movies and modeling that included names like Dylan Penn, Natasha Poly, Orlando Bloom, Regina King, Swizz Beatz, Rachel Brosnahan and Soo Joo Park.

The live auction, which took place during the dinner, saw a mix of of luxury holidays, jewels, art work and one-off experiences go under the hammer.

Stone led the proceedings arriving on stage with a man on each arm. "Isn't it so nice to be here!" she shouted before raising a toast of thanks to all the guests present for the noble cause.

At amfAR Gala this year, guests were given a chance to create their own personal vintage champagne which went for 70,000 ($82,638)Euros, while a Chopard 18-karat white gold diamond, tanzanite and amethyst necklace raised 170,000 euros ($200,692).

From the artwork category, an Andy Warhol ‘Mickey Mouse’ piece raised 375,000 Euros ($442,702), a Michael Kagan astronaut sculpture went for 400,000 Euros ($472,215) and contemporary British artist Sacha Jafri created a live painting during the auction which raised 1 million Euros ($1.18 million).

The 32 top designer outfits featured in the evening's fashion show were also auctioned off gaining a hammer price of 225,000 Euros ($265,621).