Each year during the Cannes Film Festival, the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amFAR), holds their Cinema Against AIDS gala: the black-tie rendezvous for about eight hundred guests, among which are many of the stars from the films currently being screened in Cannes theatres, film producers, and anyone directly or indirectly involved in the fundraising effort. Chaired principally by Kenneth Cole, Harvey Weinstein, and Sharon Stone, Cinema Against AIDS helps raise funds for medical research. Both Weinstein and Stone have been tireless supporters of amFAR’s efforts to get the message out about AIDS awareness. Their participation in the gala helps to ensure as many A-listers as possible will show up, thereby increasing amFAR’s visibility. As Kenneth Cole explained to me when the gala was getting underway, "Anyone who is anyone will be here tonight, and Annie Lennox is going to sing. The night is going to be magical." Aware of the current economic climate, Cole told me that "last year was a different time and place, and it’s very hard out there, but it’s no less important in here."

Neither avoiding baths nor filming the umpteenth Twilight sequel, Robert Pattinson found a little time to other various things to assure a stranglehold across the headlines of filthy e-rags everywhere. Mostly, he took to the stage at some swishy gala at Cannes, where he auctioned off a kiss to a nameless, shameless, faceless fan at the recessionomic price of $20,000 to raise some capital for an AIDS charity. But then another fan wanted in on sloppy seconds. Oh, the agonies of the rich and famous!

The Cannes Film Festival crowd runs the gamut of ethnicities and classes. At least until accreditations are handed down, you could say we are all cinephiles basking in cinema’s glory. Once the badges are given, with their undemocratically assigned colors of importance, classes are formed and cliques come into sharper focus. Unspoken imperatives rule the day. You’re not equal to me; you over there, yes, the chap in the seersucker suit -- we’re a match, let’s do lunch at La Potiniere.

To the dismay of everyone within earshot of my desk, my excitement will not be quelled about how totally major this year's Cannes Film Festival is going to be. In addition to new awards-contenders from the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Michel Gondry (who didn't make the list, only because I couldn't find much on his latest film, L'epine Dans le Coeur), the sun-soaked Riviera festival will premiere Sam Raimi’s return to death and evil, as well as Jane Campion’s first major release since the Kiwi director tried, disastrously, to make Meg Ryan edgy in 2003’s In the Cut. Penelope Cruz hugs a lot of people in Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces, Ang Lee takes Woodstock and Brad Pitt screams, “Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps ... and I want my scalps!” Oh, and the late Heath Ledger might just get another Oscar. After the jump, the festival’s, if not the year’s, most anticipated films (with trailers).

As we all know, Sharon Stone is a bit of an oversharer. She overshared her cervix for a shitty movie. She overshared her Gap-loving, anti-bourgeois bourgeoisie at the Academy Awards. Now, at Cannes, she recently overshared about karma with reference to the Tibetan plight and the Chinese earthquake. New York's Jessica Coen, speculating on Dior's decision to remove Stone's image from all Chinese stores and advertisements, asks, Was it Karma? To be honest, the irony of Stone's comeuppance had occurred to us as well, but as blog commenter "magnetogurl" makes clears, "The author apparently does not understand karma either. If the rule follows, then Sharon Stone will be a harried LVMH executive in a thankless job doing damage control for a mouthy spokeswoman in her next life." Wow, karma's never been that bitchy. Video of the enlightenment after the jump.

On the eve of the Tribeca Film Festival, with all the buzzed-about premieres and glitzy after-parties, it's easy to see it as the Mother of all Film Festivals. But today, with the announcement of the lineup of the 61st Cannes Film Festival, Tribeca is reminded that it's more like a first cousin. They premiere the blockbuster Speed Racer, and Cannes casually drops Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls. Tribeca premiers auteur David Mamet's martial arts think-piece Redbelt, while Cannes will serve up Clint Eastwood's drama The Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie. But a comparison isn't really fair. This is Cannes's 61st outing, while Tribeca is only in its 7th incarnation. In 50 years, perhaps Robert De Niro's brainchild will also have the pleasure of debuting the latest installment of Indiana Jones (because we all know Harrison Ford will still be up for it). Other big premieres at Cannes include Synecdoche, New York, Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, and both Che and The Argentine, Steven Soderbergh's twin Che Guevara biopics. Woody Allen has also chosen the sun-soaked Croisette over the city that made him, to premiere his latest, Vicky Christina Barcelona. For a complete Festival line up, head here.