What’s hotter? Darfur or amFAR?

May 16, 2007 · Filed Under Cannes, Darfur, Not On Our Watch, Ocean's 13 

What’s the first thing Harvey Weinstein – chair of the annual Cannes amFAR fundraiser - did when he landed on the French Riviera today? He emailed Jerry Weintraub, “Ocean’s Thirteen” producer and a co-founder of Not On Our Watch, for tickets to the fledgling humanitarian organization’s fundraiser for Darfur.

“Harvey sent me an email this morning saying he’d just arrived in Cannes and he forgot to get his Darfur tickets,” said Weintraub. “I said, “Don’t worry about it, Harvey. How many do you need?”

Tickets to the Darfur fundraiser on May 22 featuring “Ocean’s” stars and NOOW founders George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle - arguably the hottest ticket in Cannes - are a mere $25,000. Each. Gulp. No word on how many Harvey snagged.

Early on, Weintraub contacted amFAR – including Weinstein – to let them know that he was not trying to steal their charitable thunder. amFAR’s Cinema Against Aids even has raised an estimated $22 million since the annual star-studded Cannes event began in 1993.

Other amFAR invitees (like Sharon Stone and MAC AIDS Fund and Viva Glam spokes-pinup Dita Von Teese) will probably attend the Darfur fete, upping the already sky-high celebrity quotient of “Ocean’s” stars. And I wouldn’t be surprised if maybe, just maybe, the “Ocean” gang returns the favor and slides into amFAR’s legendary annual cocktails/auction/dinner at Moulin de Mougins the next night. Just a hunch.

“We have gotten money beyond our wildest expectations in just 5 ½ weeks,” says Weintraub. “The support has been terrific. It’s become the hottest ticket in Cannes.”

But only 150-200 people will be lucky enough to get inside the closed-to-press Darfur fundraiser. There may be a small press line, according to the studio PR department. And Weintraub has already sold the inside-event photo rights to a big glossy magazine.

Which one?

”One of those magazines that pay a lot of money for exclusive photos,” Jerry said cagily, adding, “I’ll announce the magazine in Cannes.” People maybe? Okay? Hello? Maybe Vanity Fair? After all, VF honcho Graydon Carter is a sponsor of the evening, along with Chopard and Belstaff.

After Cannes, there will be “Ocean’s” Darfur benefit events in Las Vegas and Chicago. The Vegas fundraiser will open the CineVegas Film Festival on June 6 - and Weintrub will receive the fest’s Vanguard Producer Award. The second will take place in Chicago on June 7, hosted by Vanity Fair.

Weintraub will also be the first producer to have his hand and footprints cemented for posterity in the famed forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, along with his “Ocean’s” stars Clooney, Pitt, and Damon, on June 5th in Hollywood. That night the film screens at Grauman’s with an afterparty at a nearby but undisclosed location.

Weintraub talked from his WB offices today about the group decision to form NOOW. “We knew we had a movie that will do well. We wanted to do something that will make a difference. I get so many requests to do premieres for various causes, there are so many that it’s hard to pick one. But we all have an interest in the Sudan. What’s going on there is like Nazi Germany.”

Over the past year, George, Brad, Matt, Don have all been to Darfur individually. George brought a lot of attention to the crisis when he went there with his father and when he addressed the UN. Brad and Angie do so much for Africa. Don has a best-selling book out about Darfur. (the organization’s name is derived from the title of his book) and Matt has gotten very involved. So we put together a project that all of us can participate in.”

Weintraub enlisted experts on Darfur, from the private sector, academia, the political arena. “What I found out was the most important - other than money - is to focus people’s attention on what’s happening there.” To that end, click here to visit the organization’s website

This is not a one-time benefit for Darfur. NOOW will not dissolve once the conflict, death and starvation in that region does. “We want to put a spotlight on Sudan, says Weintraub. “But we want this organization to live on and fight genocide around the world. We are starting with Chad, Darfur, but we hope that when those situations are resolved, we can focus on other areas in the world whereever genocide is happening.”

It won’t all be partying in Cannes. Okay, there will be some. Okay, a lot. Hey, it’s the Ocean’s gang. But the five Not On Our Watch founders have their work cut out to support the existing relief efforts and organizations protecting civilians in the Darfur region. “Starting in Cannes, we will start figuring out which organizations to funnel the money to,” says Weintraub. Among them: the International Rescue Committee and Doctors Without Borders.

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