Walter Salles will receive the San Francisco Film Society’s Founder’s Directing Award at the 53rd San Francisco International Film Festival.

The Founder’s Award will be presented at the Society’s annual fundraiser on April 29, when Salles will take part in an on-stage interview and present an hour-long edit of his work in progress documentary In Search Of On The Road.

As previously announced Focus Features CEO James Schamus will collect the Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting on the same night. The Society will shortly announce the upcoming recipient of the Peter J Owens Award for excellence in acting.

“Since breaking out with Central Station, Walter has been a guiding light for a generation of directors,” San Francisco Film Society executive director Graham Leggat said. “We’re very excited to be able to honour this master film-maker, whose career continues to inspire not only film-makers in his native Brazil and throughout Latin America but also around the world.”

Previous recipients include Francis Ford Coppola, Mike Leigh, Spike Lee, Werner Herzog, Milos Forman, Robert Altman, Abbas Kiarostami, Robert Bresson, Michael Powell and Akira Kurosawa.

In Search Of On the Road documents Salles’ efforts to make a documentary about Jack Kerouac his novel On The Road, and the Beat Generation The festival is scheduled to run from April 22 to May 6.