"The Public" is about some homeless people who find shelter in a Cincinnati library during a frigid winter night, when survival turns into a stand-off with police.
Estevez tells ABC7 it highlights forgotten people in society, and how far they'll go to demand human dignity.
"Libraries have become de facto homeless shelters and librarians have become first responders and de facto social workers," Estevez explains.
Estevez said his mom, Janet Sheen, turned him on to a documentary about Chicago's Che Smith, better known as Rhymefest. Once he saw it, the director knew the artist had to be in his film.
"My dad was homeless for over 30 years and the first place he wanted to meet me was in the public library because the public library is where he had a sense of dignity," Smith opened up about. "It wasn't the park where he hung out or the homeless shelter where he had to sleep. It was the place where you find that people go who need a place to stay but they go there to educate themselves. They find out more about what's going on in the world."
This isn't the only movie Emilio's made in a library.
"When we were [in Chicago] during The Breakfast Club, you really can thank John Hughes for building up the talent bench of terrific film technicians.