BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS COURTESY SUN VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL

Amy Poehler, known for her starring role on the Emmy-nominated NBC comedy series, “Parks and Recreation,” will receive the VISION AWARD at the Sun Valley Film Festival March 18 through 22.

The VISION AWARD—the festival’s top award—is given to entertainment icons who have changed their industry for the better. Past recipients include Clint Eastwood, Jodie Foster, Gwyneth Paltrow, Oliver Stone and Meg Ryan. Poehler will receive the award at a glamorous dinner on March 21 at the Roundhouse Restaurant on Sun Valley Resort’s Bald Mountain.

Actor Winston Duke, who made his feature film debut as M’Baku in “Black Panther,” will receive the SVFF RISING STAR AWARD on Thursday, March 19.

Award-winning filmmaker Eliza Hittman will receive the PIONEER AWARD, presented by “Variety” on Friday, March 20. The award recognizes her work as an innovator with a trailblazing spirit.

And Ann Druyan creator of the 1980 documentary series “COSMOS” starring her husband Carl Sagan and the National Geographic follow-up “COSMOS”, will receive the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC FURTHER AWARD on Saturday, March 21. It recognizes a leader whose work is innovative, timely and impactful.

Typically, one or more honorees can be counted on to engage in free Coffee Talks with the community during the Sun Valley Film Festival. The festival is trying to nail down the Coffee Talk schedule at this time, said Carol Waller, the spokesperson for the festival.

• Amy Poehler is not only an actress but a writer, executive producer and bestselling author. Her portrayal of Leslie Knope—the overachieving deputy director of the Parks and Recreation department of the fictional town of Pawnee, Ind., earned her a 2014 Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy, as well as the award for Best Actress in a TV Comedy at the 2014 American Comedy Awards and a 2013 Gracie Award. Poehler also received six consecutive Emmy nominations, two additional Golden Globe nominations and three Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations.

  She currently serves as co-creator, executive producer and the lead voice of FOX’s animated series “Duncanville,” about a 15-year-old boy with a rich fantasy life despite his family’s humdrum existence.

  She also is the executive producer of the “Making It” reality craft building show and executive producer of the Netflix series “Russian Doll,” a comedy-drama about a young woman caught in a mysterious loop.

  Additional credits include Saturday Night Live, Free Birds, Baby Mama, Blades of Glory and Mean Girls. She has lent her voice to such animated films as “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” “Horton Hears a Who!” and “Shrek the Third.” And she recently finished directing the feature film “Moxie,” based on Jennifer Mathieu’s young adult novel about an unlikely teenager who starts a feminist revolution at a small-town Texan high school.

• Winston Duke stars in “Nine Days,” a sci-fi film which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He reprised his “Black Panther” role of M’Baku in “Avengers: Infinity War. And he most recently starred in Jordan Peele’s “Us,” a horror film that follows a woman who returns to the beachfront home where she grew up only to have four doppelgangers descend on the house forcing her family into a fight for survival.
• Eliza Hittman’s latest film “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” an intimate portrayal of two teenage girls faced with an unintended pregnancy premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. It received a special jury prize and will screen at the Sun Valley Film festival before being released this spring.

Her other film credits include “It Felt Like Love,” which follows a lonely teen as she becomes the prey. It premiered at Sundance in 2013 and was a New York Times Critic’s pick. Her “Beach Rats,” about an aimless teenager who escapes the bleakness of his life by flirting with older men online, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival where she won the Directing Award. It went on to win numerous other awards.

The Sun Valley Film festival opens on March 18 with the documentary “RUTH—Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words.” Oscar-winning director and part-time Sun Valley resident Freida Lee Mock will be in attendance.

“The Last Shift,” a bittersweet Sundance Film Festival comedy-drama about an aging white fast food worker who’s tasked with training his young black replacement, will close out the festival on March 22 with Director Andrew Cohn fielding questions following the screening.

In between will be the world premiere of “Lost on Everest,” as well as the new Ford Pitch Fest in which three finalists will have an opportunity to pitch a film to win a $25,000 Ford Producers Grant.

For more information, visit www.sunvalleyfilmfestival.org.