Sean Penn has teamed up with the organisers of the Cannes Film Festival in France to put together a charity gala to raise money for ongoing aid efforts in Haiti.

The Hollywood actor set up the J/P Haitian Relief Organization to help rebuild the country in the wake of its devastating 2010 earthquake, and he will be raising funds for the cause during this year's famous movie event.

Haiti: Carnival in Cannes will be a fundraising diner held during the festival in aid of Penn's charity as well as filmmaker Paul Haggis' Artists for Peace organisation and the Happy Hearts Fund, set up by model Petra Nemcova.

Festival president Gilles Jacob says, "People say that a great actor is by nature egocentric, and that a great director is focused on his art. Sean Penn is both a great actor and director. What he does above and beyond that for the people and the land of Haiti, giving freely of himself, his abiding presence, his work - one could almost say the work of his own hands - his whole discreet, human, moral and altruistic involvement as a benefactor, commands our greatest respect."

The dinner will be held on 18 May.