LIGHTS! HONORS! STUDENTS MIGHT WIN OSCARS.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

VALENCIA - For Waleed Moursi, 29, acting became his passion after he was kicked off his high school basketball team and placed into a theater course.

For Ben Zelkowicz, 26, animation is the vocation he chose, frustrated by his undergraduate studies in biopsychology and English.

Now, the two young men - Zelkowicz, an alumnus of California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, and Moursi, a graduate student there - are reaching unexpected heights in their early entertainment careers. Both recently were named finalists for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 30th Annual Student Academy Awards competition.

``On a whim, I applied (to CalArts) - I'm still just winging it and still amazed that I've managed to find success,'' Zelkowicz said Monday.

Zelkowicz spent more than two years on the delicate process of sand animating his film, which involves a plate of glass covered in sand that is sculpted, backlit and filmed to create motion animations.

After gathering the finest sand he could find at an Oregon beach, Zelkowicz crafted and filmed ``The ErlKing,'' a five-minute adaptation of an 18th-century German poem by the same name.

``No matter what went wrong, I haven't looked back since I got into this,'' Zelkowicz said. ``It's a very intimidating industry to try to get into, but I love it too much to do anything else.''

Zelkowicz's film has been entered into several film competitions, including the Sundance Film Festival.

Moursi, whose Academy-nominated work began as a term project, was equally taken aback by his success with the film.

``I am more surprised than anything - I just wanted to fulfill the vision of my film and complete the assignment,'' Moursi said of his film, ``The Projects Lumiere,' which was nominated in the alternative-film category.

Moursi's 1 1/2-minute movie, shot in one take, is a spoof of ``West Side Story'' featuring modern-day gangsters.

During the production - which was Moursi's first-year master's final project at CalArts - he was never sure whether his work would succeed.

``When you're doing it, you're like, 'is this boat going to sink?''' Moursi said Tuesday.

Steve Anker, dean of the CalArts School of Film/Video, was ecstatic about the award nominations.

``It is very significant to be honored with this kind of recognition,'' Anker said. ``CalArts sees this as an opportunity to let the rest of the country know the significance of the work being done here.''

Anker is particularly impressed with Moursi's nomination, the first for the school's new program in film directing, which started only three years ago.

Moursi and Zelkowicz are two of 28 students nationwide to be selected as finalists for the 30th Annual Student Academy Awards.

Winners will be announced next within the next week, and awards will be handed out at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater on June 8.

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Photo:

(color) CalArts alumnus Ben Zelkowicz, left, and student Waleed Moursi have had films nominated for Academy Awards.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer