Revolutionary rock band U2 will be presented with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award during the 25th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival’s (PSIFF) Awards Gala. The Gala, which will be hosted by former ‘Entertainment Tonight’ host Mary Hart, will be held Saturday, January 4, 2014 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

U2 is being honored for their song ‘Ordinary Love’ from the biographical film, ‘Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom.’ The song is an ode to Nelson Mandela, who the band worked with in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa.

PSIFF Chairman Harold Matzner said the festival “is honored to present the 2014 Sonny Bono Visionary Award to U2,” which is also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the Best Original Song category for a Motion Picture. “We normally present the Sonny Bono Visionary Award to a director,” Matzner said. “But for our 25th anniversary we wanted to take the occasion to celebrate U2, a visionary group and the world’s premier rock band, for their unparalleled humanitarian work against extreme poverty, disease, and social injustice.”

‘Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom,’ which was directed by Justin Chadwick and adapted from the book of the same name by Oscar-nominated writer William Nicholson, stars Idris Elba. The biographical film follows the former South African president’s life as a herd boy in the country’s rural Cape region to his days as a lawyer and Apartheid resistance leader. It also showcases the 27 years he spent in Robben Island prison before becoming the country’s first democratically elected president.

Written by: Karen Benardello