NEW YORK, NY.- Online auction supporting amfAR Gala Cannes lauches on Paddle8 featuring nine works by artists including Ai WeiWei, Rita Ackerman, Chris Martin, Robert Mapplethrope and Sterling Ruby, Joe Bradley, Andre Butzer and Bernar Venet. The sale will culminate at the annual gala in Cannes on Thursday, May 17 during the Cannes Film Festival.

Alessandra Ambrosio, Poppy Delevigne, Linda Evangelista, Silvia Fendi, Aileen Getty, Kate Hudson, Scarlett Johansson, Milla Jovovich, Heidi Klum, Daphna Krim, Karolina Kurkova, Sienna Miller, Angela Missoni, Mary Parent, Katy Perry, Natasha Poly, Aishwarya Rai, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, Carine Roitfeld, Caroline Scheufele, Irina Shayk, Lara Stone, Donatella Versace, and Michelle Yeoh are the Honorary Chairs of the 25th edition of amfAR’s world-renowned amfAR Gala Cannes. Event Chairs include Len Blavatnik, Milutin Gatsby, Michel Litvak, Alexandre Ricard, and William H. Roedy.

The annual star-studded event is one of the world’s most successful benefits and is the most coveted ticket during the Cannes International Film Festival. Held at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, France, this glamorous and unpredictable gala will include special musical performances by iconic Grammy-winning musicians Sting and Shaggy who recently released a new, collaborative album entitled 44/876, and other surprise musical guests soon to be announced. The event always includes a parade of prominent appearances, as many of the celebrity guests help with the event’s exciting live auction of exclusive items and experiences.

Longtime amfAR supporter Carine Roitfeld will once again curate a fashion show of one-of-a-kind looks from a who’s who of the world’s most celebrated fashion designers. Forty of the world’s top models will participate in the spectacular And Woman Created All / Et La Femme Créa Tout runway presentation.

Bold Films and Chopard are the Presenting Sponsors of the amfAR Gala Cannes. Pernod Ricard is the event’s Signature Sponsor. Delta Air Lines is the Official Airline of amfAR.

After the amfAR Gala Cannes dinner, guests will be invited to the exclusive After Party.

amfAR's annual amfAR Gala Cannes events have been important and successful fundraising events for the Foundation for over two decades, generating more than $210 million for amfAR’s life-saving research programs and keeping the fight against AIDS in the global media spotlight. amfAR continues to fund HIV/AIDS researchers worldwide, and works to translate their research into effective policy, prevention, and treatment education programs around the globe. amfAR’s Countdown to a Cure for AIDS initiative is aimed at developing the scientific basis for a cure by the end of 2020. Launched in 2014, the Countdown is designed to intensify amfAR’s cure-focused research efforts through strategic investments of $100 million. The cornerstone of the Countdown is the amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research, an innovative collaborative enterprise based at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

Past events have been chaired by amfAR’s late Founding International Chairman Dame Elizabeth Taylor, who hosted the first amfAR Gala Cannes in 1993, President Bill Clinton, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, Sir Elton John, and Madonna, among many others.