ITALY: SHARON STONE HELPS TO AUCTION GOODS FOR AMFAR FILM INDUSTRY AIDS CHARITY DINNER

Record ID: 546540

  • Title: ITALY: SHARON STONE HELPS TO AUCTION GOODS FOR AMFAR FILM INDUSTRY AIDS CHARITY DINNER
  • Date: 31st August 2000
  • Summary: SCU/SMV US ACTRESS LAURA LINNEY. (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS, RICHARD GERE ARRIVES WITH HIS WIFE CARRIE. (3 SHOTS) SMV GUESTS WALKING THROUGH MONASTERY CLOISTERS SMV ROBERT ALTMAN AND PARTNER ARRIVING SMV OTHER GUESTS ARRIVING SMV RICHARD GERE WITH HIS WIFE, CARRIE SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) RICHARD GERE, "Well to me personally working with AmFAR, working the Harvard AIDS institute, working with the clinics in India which is mostly what I've been doing over the last few years in India - the work there, the potential of saving 100 million lives alone is astonishing when you consider that's more than all the wars over the last century. " SMV GERE TALKING WITH MEDIA SCU (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) GERE SPEAKING " I don't know that the west would like to forget it let's say it's not east and west it's developed and under-developed ountries. I don't think developed countries have ever known how to communicate well about social issues with nder-developed countries that understand the problems." VARIOUS, U.S ACTOR DENNIS HOPPER AND WIFE ARRIVING VARIOUS, SHARON STONE ARRIVES WITH HER HUSBAND PHIL ROTHSTEIN. CUTAWAY PEOPLE WATCHING ARRIVALS FROM WINDOW SMV SHARON STONE AND HUSBAND (2 SHOTS) CUTAWAY MEDIA SLV LINE-UP INCLUDING STONE AND KRIM SLV STONE ENTERS MONASTERY. VARIOUS ,SHARON STONE TALKING TO MEDIA (3 SHOTS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHARON STONE SAYS, "I like everyone else has now lost someone very close to me. I don't think there isn't a family that is untouched by this horrible and sad death and the catastrophic way that that occurs. I think that we are at a point now where we are a team in our humanity, we're past the recognition of this as a grievous illness and into the resolution of it so now that we're over the hump which was awareness and we're into making it happen. I'm very optimistic. I have been in the laboratories. I have been with the scientists. I feel that we're getting somewhere." SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) DENNIS HOPPER SAYS, "Well you know we supported AmFAR from the very beginning before they thought AIDS was a disease and an epidemic. We were supporters - we've lost a lot of friends to AIDS and we're very strong supporters." SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) Q: ARE YOU GOING TO BID? HOPPER SAYS, "Well I don't know about that. She may bid. (HIS WIFE) WIDE OF SHARON STONE GETTING UP TO WALK TO STAGE VARIOUS, SHARON STONE AND RICHARD GERE WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD PRESENTED BY THE MAYOR OF VENICE CUTAWAY ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD SHAPED LIKE ST MARK'S LIION VARIOUS, SHARON STONE AND RICHARD GERE URGING PEOPLE TO BID DURING THE AUCTION (2 SHOTS) WIDE OF ROOM AS AUCTION BEGINS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD WHICH GERE DONATED (2 SHOTS) WIDE OF DINNER ROOM SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHARON STONE SAYS, "I feel like a game-show hostess. OK here it is it's so fabulous. Actually it IS fabulous because it has a lot of things you can do like your little gal on the go day purse, your little I'm so happening evening purse, your little 'I have so much jewelry I just have to throw it in the safe.' Lipsticks, mirror, mixing palate, stuff. OK seventeen, sixteen, fair warning, sixteen thousand, going once I'm a little disappointed in you sixteen thousand - going once looking for seventeen? OK - sold sixteen thousand dollars thank-you very much." (SHOWING OFF LOUIS VUITTON VANITY CASE/CUTAWAY TO ROOM (4 SHOTS))
  • Embargoed: 15th September 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VENICE, ITALY
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Entertainment,People
  • Reuters ID: LVACSMSEEQ6FJ2Q4C3KQB858J71O
  • Story Text: Hollywood sex-goddess Sharon Stone, who recently confirmed she's signed up for Basic Instinct 2, has been in Venice hosting a lighthearted 'auction' for the AIDS charity AmFAR.
    Celebrities including US actors Richard Gere, Dennis Hopper and Patrick Swayze were in attendance as bidders vied for a collection of art work - and a special Louis Vuitton travel case designed personally by Miss Stone.
    The auction took place in a breathtaking setting - an old monastery on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore....as the sun set over Venice.
    Hollywood sex-goddess Sharon Stone has hosted a sparkling gala event in Venice to raise funds for AIDS research.
    Already invited to the Venice Film Festival to make the day of Clint Eastwood and present the veteran star with his life-time achievement award, Sharon stayed on to host an auction in the exquisite setting of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini Monastery, on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore.
    All proceeds from the dinner, with diners reported to have paid up to $50,000 for a ticket, benefit AmFAR (American Foundation for AIDS Research).
    Miss Stone herself purchased a portrait for $150,000 and auctioned a special one-off travel case she designed with Louis Vuitton.
    "The ideas came to me as I had all my things spread out on the floor of the Coco Chanel suite at the Ritz in Paris a few months back," Stone said.
    The case was eventually sold for sixteen thousand dollars - after a slow start. Bidding picked up after Miss Stone launched into an amusing impression of a 'game-show hostess', and revealed the case's finer points.
    On a serious note she spoke with great passion about her commitment to the cause of AIDS research and her determination to see it through to the day when an effective treatment was devised.
    "I like everyone else has now lost someone very close to me,"
    she said.
    "I don't think there isn't a family that is untouched by this horrible and sad death and the catastrophic way that that occurs. I think that we are at a point now where we are a team in our humanity we're past the recognition of this as a grievous illness and into the resolution of it so now that we're over the hump which was awareness and we're into making it happen. I'm very optimistic I have been in the laboratories I have been with the scientists. I feel that we're getting somewhere."
    AmFAR has long championed the use of celebrities to raise money for AIDS. Originally headed-up by Liz Taylor, Sharon Stone has now taken on the mantle of organising functions and fund-raising.
    Also in attendance at the auction was US actor Richard Gere, long known for championing third-world issues and particularly interested in the plight of India's AIDS victims.
    "To me personally working with AmFAR, working with the Harvard AIDS institute, working with the clinics in India which is mostly what I've been doing over the last few years - the work there is the potential of saving 100 million lives alone is astonishing when you consider that's more than all the wars over the last century," Gere says.
    But is Third-World AIDS a problem the west would like to forget? "I don't know that the west would like to forget it, " Gere says.
    "Let's say it's not east and west it's developed and under-developed countries. I don't think developed countries have ever known how to communicate well about social issues with under-developed countries. "
    Gere was clearly determined to make a major contribution to the evening.
    He was happy to clown on the podium to raise a laugh and more significantly donated an environmental award he had just received from the mayor of Venice for auction.
    The party ran long into the night, the strains of the Cuban band drifting across the Venetian lagoon.
    ---ENDS---
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