 Hollywood guests arrive at the Starlite Gala, press galore! STARLITE GALA CHARITY EVENT 2011
by Chris Chaplow
The second edition of the charity Starlite Gala took place at Villa Padierna Hotel, Estepona on the evening of 6 August 2011, with an after-party at Purobeach club in Estepona.
Over 450 guests attended, most paying 800€ or 1,000€ each for tickets. Sponsors included Ford, Pernod Ricardo España, Fundacion Iberostar, DHL, L’Oreal and Banco Sabadell.
About 50 celebrity attendees chose to walk along the special section of red carpet between 100 sharp-elbowed photographers and a backdrop laden with sponsors’ logos. The best photos can be seen on the Marbella chic website. Some guests found this minor media circus more interesting than the pre-gala cocktail, and as we jostled for a better view I had to be very careful not to step on some of the flowing evening gowns.
The principal celebrities were Eva Longoria, in a pale rose-pink dress designed by J. Mendel. Eva was accompanied by her boyfriend, Eduardo Cruz, brother of Penelope (although he slipped in by a back door to avoid being photographed with Eva) and Antonio Banderas, accompanied by his wife Melanie Griffith.
 Eva Longoria, Melanie Griffith and Maria Bravo Starlite Gala organizers called upon an Executive Committee including Alejandra Alemán, co-founder with Sandra García-Sanjuán, model Eugenia Silva, Paloma Cuevas and her husband Enrique Ponce, Nina Junot, Patricia Olmedilla, Gunilla von Bismark with Luis Ortiz.
Other guests were Kristina Szekely, Imanol Arias with girlfriend Irene Meritxell, Octavi Pujades, Amaia Salamanca, Paz Vega, and Elisabetta Briatore, wife of Flavio Briatore, who interrupted her holidays to attend. In addition, there was Carmen Lomana, Boris Izaguirre, Elena Tablada, Mar Saura, Ivonne Reyes, Remedio Cervantes, Paula Vázquez, Mónica Carrillo, Elena Benarroch and Patricia Rato.
Anne Igartiburu was the evening’s co-presenter, along with English actor Joseph Fiennes, accompanied by his Spanish wife Maria Dolores Dieguez. This year’s Starlite Gala Humanitarian Award was given to Jermaine Jackson, brother of the late Michael Jackson, accompanied by his wife Halima Rashid.
 Eva Longoria, Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith Guests were entertained by Oceana, Marta Sánchez, La Unión, and the 17-year-old Victoria Swarovski (from the celebrated crystal-making family), who sang so beautifully that Melanie Griffith, Eva Longoria, Sandra García-Sanjuán, Marta Sánchez and Elena Tablada could not resist mounting the stage to dance with her.
The raffle prizes included a list of experiences that money can’t buy, such as visiting the set of Desperate Housewives alongside Eva Longoria, attending the Grammys in platinum seats with backstage access, four days in Formentera in the house of Eugenia Silva, and so on.
Ford, the principal sponsor of the Starlite Gala, donated two new cars from a special limited edition appropriately named “S-Max Starlite” and “Mondeo Starlite” which had been signed across the bonnets by Antonio Banderas and Eva Longoria at an earlier press call (see top photo). Antonio had shown a natural reluctance to vandalise the cars, but was encouraged to go ahead by one of the impatient photographers. He need not have worried, as his signature created added value when the car was purchased for 40.000 euro (by his wife, Melanie Griffith).
In terms of local politicians, Malaga’s mayor Francisco de la Torre was present and so was Elias Bendodo, President of the Diputacion of Malaga, although the latter did not walk down the red carpet in front of the photographers. Assuming they did not pay the 1000€-odd personally (neither Malaga Town Hall, nor diputacion, nor the party), they must have been on guest list. I wonder how many of the guests paid and how many were on the guest list? The mayors of Marbella and Estepona did not attend.
The 2011 edition of the Starlite Gala exceeded the organizers’ expectations and raised substantial funds for the three charities of the Starlite Gala founders:
Niños en Alegría founded by Alejandra Alemán and Sandra García. The foundation built the Carlos Alberto Madrazo School in Acapulco, officially opened at the end of 2010 with 258 children attending. Due to open in September 2011 is Kinder Tierra y Libertad for more than 100 children in the deprived district of Pie de la Cuesta in Guerrero.
The Eva Longoria Fund founded by Eva Longoria has financed 60 programmes of social integration for children and adolescents with learning difficulties.
Lágrimas y Favores founded by Antonio Banderas, has financed treatment for terminally ill cancer patients through the Cudeca (the Costa del Sol Cancer Care Association), and has created 30 scholarships in conjunction with the Universidad de Málaga.
In preparing this article, I have repeatedly asked the organisers, Avory Celebrity Access SL, how much money was actually collected at the 2010 Starlite Gala, and how much was donated to each specific charity. It is a relevant question, as the Starlite Gala is only a platform or marketing name, and has no legal identity or published accounts. I was informed by email that this information is confidential, but might be revealed at the 2011 event if I attended. I did, but it was not. At the gala, I was told it was in the digital press kit; it was not. I was then told I would be sent an email with the information that night. I received no such email.
Eva Longoria, Eduardo Cruz, Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas arrived together into Malaga airport by private jet. If they flew from Los Angeles, this would have been huge expense for the Gala, which would have made a big dent in the funds for the foundations.
The third edition of the Starlite Gala will be on Saturday 4 August 2012. For the sake of the great and good of Marbella paying 1,000 € a ticket, I hope my simple questions will be answered so that I can update this page and keep our readers informed.
STARLITE GALA CHARITY EVENT 2010
The first edition of the starlight gala took place in 'Hotel Villa Padierna Marbella' on the 7th August 2010 a platform created by Sandra Garcia-Sanjuan y Maria Bravo to unite the world of business, celebrities and philanthropy and to gather funds to improve the life of communities , families and children without resources in any location.
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