BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Sun Valley Film Festival will hoor Emilio Estevez with its Pioneer Award recognizing an industry innovators whose work on screen or behind the camera embodies a trailblazing spirt.

Estevez will be honored during the festival’s Pioneer Party on Friday, March 31, and he will participate in a Coffee Talk on Saturday, April 1. The Coffee Talk is free and open to the public.

The festival, which runs March 29 through April 2, will also host a special screening of Estevez’s “The Way” on Saturday, April 1. The film tells the story of a father recovering the body of his estranged son who died while traveling “El Camino de Santiago,” or “The Way of St. James” in northern Spain. The father decides to take the pilgrimage himself when he gets there.

Estevez directed, produced and wrote the film, in addition to starring in it with his father Martin Sheen. (Estevez chose to retain his family name, instead of taking his father’s stage name “Sheen,” to avoid riding his father’s coattails).

The 2011 film, which serves as an ode to the joys of travel and our shared humanity, will be re-released into theaters nationwide in May 2023.

“We are so thrilled to recognize Emilio Estevez with this year’s Pioneer Award for his outstanding work in front of and behind the camera as a writer and director,” said Teddy Grennan, founder and executive director of the Sun Valley Film Festival. “Ever since we first saw him on screen in “Repo Man,” Emilio has shown a dedication to telling emotional and important stories, making him a true trailblazer.”

Estevez’s other film credits include “The Outsiders,” “Young Guns,” “Young Guns II,” “The Breakfast Club,” “Mission: Impossible” and “The Mighty Ducks.”

He directed, wrote and starred in “Bobby,” the story of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination. The movie was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture-Drama and SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. He also wrote, directed and starred in “The Public,” about homeless library patrons who refuse to leave a library at closing time during a brutal Midwestern cold front. It had its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto Fil Festival.

Also being honored at the 2023 Film Festival are Josh Brolin, who will receive the Vision Award; Sophie Thatcher, the Rising Star Award, and Nina Yang Bongiovi, the Variety Creative Impact Award in Producing.

Past Pioneer Award recipients include Kate Bosworth, Mark Duplass and Aaron Paul.