Angel Vasquez, a graduate student in SFSU's Cinema Department, recently earned a Princess Grace Award for his film "A Change of Faith."

"A Change of Faith" is a haunting experimental short film that examines emotional and psychological fears associated with the media imagery of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It will screen at the 2002 Film Arts Festival of Independent Cinema, held Nov. 13-17.

The Princess Grace Award is a grant awarded to dance, theater and film students by Monaco's royal family and the Princess Grace Foundation-USA. Vasquez, the eighth SFSU student to win a Princess Grace Award since 1989, will receive his award Oct. 22 in New York.

Vasquez, 33, earned his bachelor's degree in cinema from SFSU this spring.

Entertainment Weekly named the SFSU Cinema Department one of the nation's top film schools in its special fall 2000 "How to Break into Showbiz" issue. Founded amid the political activism and artistic experimentation of the 1960s, the Cinema Department has educated generations of filmmakers including Academy Award winners Steven Zaillian (Best Screenplay, "Schindler's List," 1994), Christopher Boyes (Best Sound Effects Editing, "Pearl Harbor," 2002; "Titanic," 1998) and Steve Okazaki (Best Documentary, "Days of Waiting," 1991).