Natalie is to be honoured with the inaugural Movie For Humanity award at the Venice Film Festival. The award is “dedicated to social commitment” and is “a sort of ‘Nobel Prize’ assigned to movie artists who devote themselves to humanitarian causes”.

Natalie will receive an award and a check for 50 000 on Sunday night. The money will be donated to The Jane Goodall Institute’s TACARE Girls’ Scholarship Program.

One of my best friends is a huge Jane Goodall fan and she actually got to meet her, just two months ago. While another friend has been saying great things about Jane for years. So I couldn’t be more thrilled by this new partnership.

It’s nice that Natalie is getting the recognition but I think its more important to focus on the charity. So here is a bit more information from the source:

Raised to the role of international star thanks to her interpretation in the “Star Wars’ Trilogy”, Natalie is seriously involved in important social and environmental programs. Among them, the TACARE Girls’ Scholarship Program of The Jane Goodall Institute, a non-profit organization committed to wildlife research, education and conservation in Tanzania. The program was established to address the problem of severely limited educational opportunities for women in Kigoma district. Traditionally, girls throughout much of Sub-Saharan Africa, leave their parents’ home when they are married and become part of their husband’s family. Consequently the investment in a daughter’s education is too often seen as a waste of scarce resources. The Girls’ Scholarship Program provides access to secondary and higher education and consequentely job opportunities in a variety of fields
Natalie Portman has also been appointed Ambassador of Hope for FINCA, an organization operating to assure people microloans to start their activities.

If you want to learn more about the program, click here.