Dubai to host star studded AIDS fundraising

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Dubai will host its first ever international AIDS week next month in association with the Dubai International Film Festival.

The new fundraising initiative, Cinema Against AIDS Dubai, will be supported by Hollywood actress Sharon Stone and will be under the patronage of Princess Haya, wife of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The event, a gala dinner chaired by the Basic Instinct star, will raise funds for AmFAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research), the world's most prominent AIDS and HIV research and public policy advocacy group and will coincide with the UAE's first AIDS Week.

This won't be the first AmFAR event for Stone. She has been hosting AIDS fundraisers since 1995. Last month the Catwoman star sold the necklace she was wearing at a benefit in Rome to help raise a total US$1.35m for AIDS.

The first ever AmFAR benefit, held at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993 raised less than US$200,000 - a stark comparison to the US$7m raised at the last film festival.

AmFAR, which supports AIDS research and prevention programs has invested more than US$260m in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams since 1985.

At this year's Dubai festival, Stone will be joined by Hollywood heart throb, George Clooney, who will be officially opening the fourth festival, December 9-16.

Other celebrities in attendance will include Lethal Weapon star, Danny Glover, the recipient of this year's Lifetime Achievement Award along with Egyptian actor and director, Youssef Chahine, and one of the most critically acclaimed film-makers in South Korea, Im Kwon-Taek.

This year the festival will screen 141 films from 52 countries. While many of the audience will recognise films such as The Assassination of Jesse James starring Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck's directorial début, Gone Baby Gone, the festival will show films from across the world with a special emphasis on Indian and Asian cinema this year.

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