American actor Ethan Hawke and film director Richard Linklater will be in Bucharest on June 26 to attend the fundraising event Before It’s Too Late, organized by the charitable association OvidiuRo, and premiere their latest film, Before Midnight.

This fundraising event organized at Palatul Copiilor in Bucharest will support OvidiuRo’s Fiecare Copil in Gradinta (Every child in kindergarten) program, co- founded by the American actor’s mother, Leslie Hawke and by Maria Gheorghiu. The event supports early education for all, within  OvidiuRO’s long-term goal of making early education a standard public policy in Romania. More about the event here. Tickets cost EUR 35 (RON 150) and can be purchased online here.

Ethan Hawke, the two-time Academy Award nominee, is a board member of The Alex Fund and a long-standing supporter of the NGO that his mother and Maria Gheorghiu founded in Romania, Asociatia OvidiuRo. He previously came to Romania on the occasion of Ovidiu Ro's Halloween Balls. Actor Hawke is also a writer and director, and is known for his appearance is movies such as Gattaca, Hamlet, Reality Bites,  Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, among others. Before Midnight is a third part of a series which includes Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004). Hawke plays alongside Julie Deply (both in picture). "Each of the “Before” movies is a window onto a stage of life, sharply attuned to the possibilities and disappointments of one’s 20s, 30s and 40s," according to a NY Times review. Movie trailer below.

Leslie Hawke and Maria Gheorghiu started in 2001 with several programs in Bacau to help families in extreme poverty become better equipped to support themselves. They established Asociatia Ovidiu Rom in 2004 and expanded the programs to Bucharest. In 2010, OvidiuRo initiated Fiecare copil în grădiniță program inviting mayors across Romania to apply for a grant to help them get every impoverished child in their community age 4-6 in preschool. A year later, the program expanded to 20 communities in 12 counties in Romania.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Before midnight Facebook page)