Friday evening, some of the most important names in Hollywood came down to London to attend the Albie Awards, the event of Amal and George Clooney in force of Black-life, which celebrates those who have devoted their lives to justice.
For the first time during the four -year race of the event, guests – Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson and Jacinda Ardern, to appoint some of the 400s who attended – walked a red carpet leading to the London Natural History Museum. In previous years, the Albies took place at the New York Public Library.
The move of the event in England was mainly the result of a good calendar, said Clooney. The couple was already to be in Great Britain, because Ms. Clooney presents a partnership at the University of Oxford which focuses on the use of artificial intelligence to improve access to justice, responsibility and the progression of international law, according to the Blavatnik School of Government.
And because the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which the Clooneys have founded, is an international organization, London seemed to be a good place for the benefit, said Clooney.
Looking at the very polite press line along the red carpet, Mr. Clooney concluded that there was at least one difference compared to New York: “England is a little less noisy.”
Like the Albies of previous years in New York, reception and dinner had all the heads of a sumptuous gala. John Legend and Brandi Carlile played. Charlotte Tilbury and Versace were sponsors.
But it was clear that for many guests, the event was more than cocktails, appetizers and fanciful dresses. (The New York Times was invited to the red carpet, not at the reception and the party.)
Celebrity guests included Hannah Waddingham, Gayle King and Meg Ryan – All in glitter dresses – as well as Graham Norton, Richard E. Grant and Dominic West. And the more you look at the red carpet, the more the stars seemed to appear: Isla Fisher, Stella McCartney, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Bianca Jagger, Shailene Woodley, Felicity Jones and others.
“Tonight is hope and the possibility,” said Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. “We must remember that the future can be brilliant and that the world is not all dark.”
Honoring the people who worked on justice is also what counted to Ms. Ardern, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, who had already attended the Albies. “It is a moment in time to be able to recognize the work which often happens quietly, but which is incredibly important,” she said. “Some of the people honored tonight, they have been working for decades.”
The Albies are appointed after Albie Sachs, 90, white South African lawyer, anti-apartheid author and activist. He received the first Albie prize from the Clooney Foundation in 2022.
“It’s almost bizarre, because I have spent my life being an iconoclast and now I have become an icon,” said Sachs, who narrowly survived a bombardment of cars in 1988 in which he lost his right arm and the sight of an eye. But, he added: “I can live with the contradiction.”
It was also simply important to attend an event focused on justice which was also fun, said Mr. Sachs, adding that the Albies were impregnated with joyful energy (something that is not always the case at human rights events, he said).
Many other celebrities have declared that the winners, and celebrating those who work for justice, were the main prints of the event.
Among this year’s winners were José Rubén Zamora, a Guatemalan journalist who was arrested to try to stifle political dissent; Fatou Baldeh, a Gambian activist for women’s rights; The Philanthrope Melinda Gates French; and Martin Baron, former editor -in -chief of the Washington Post. Mr. Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation, received a life production prize.
Ms. Carlile, one of the last to arrive on the red carpet, wore a perfectly adapted tuxedo and said that she was delighted to celebrate the winners. “We have witnessed fairly self-feminine things in our lives,” she said, adding that celebrating people who “risk everything is deep”. (She added that she was also delighted to meet her fellowship of celebrities, Emma Thompson.)
For Mr. Baron, the journalist, attended the event and accepting the Albie Prize represented “a declaration in the name of freedom of expression”, even if the fantasy affair was not his usual scene. “Normally, I don’t hang out much with celebrities,” he said.
Ramla Ali, a professional boxer, said she felt in the same way. She had never attended the Albies before and said that she was enthusiastic about all the celebrities with whom she was about to share a room. She hadn’t planned to play cool, she said, “If I see someone I love, I’m going to go to them and say,” Hey, can we take a photo? “”
