Francisco Menéndez(1962-2024)

An American filmmaker born in El Salvador, Francisco is Artistic Director of the University of Nevada Las Vegas Department of Film, where he is also a professor. In 2017 he received a Regents' Creative Activities Award Medal from the State of Nevada for his feature-length film Stealing Las Vegas starring Eric Roberts. He holds prestigious teaching awards from UNLV, two Charles Vanda awards for excellence in the arts, and placed 1st for two University Film and Video Association juried screening awards. Francisco served as UNLV Film Department Chair for almost two decades and raised over a million dollars for the program. Aside from filmmaking, his areas of research are: virtual reality, stereoscopy, and emerging technologies.