A series of short documentaries created by students from the University of Arizona School of Theatre, Film & Television (TFTV) is now publicly available as part of Pima County’s “Tucson Heritage” video series, highlighting the region’s deep cultural and historical roots.
Produced under the mentorship of documentary filmmaker and professor Lisa Molomot, the films were created in collaboration with Pima County and Desert Archaeology, Inc. as part of a public outreach effort connected to the Silverbell Road improvement project. The project gave students the opportunity to work on professional documentary productions while exploring Tucson’s layered past.
The filmmakers, Anna Agosto (BFA ’23), Brett Jones (BFA ’23), Fiona Paskoff (BFA ’24) and Tatum Sailors (BFA ’24), contributed to the series as videographers, editors and producers, working with community historians, archaeologists and cultural practitioners to document stories from across Southern Arizona.
The short films examine topics including Tucson’s historic barrios, the cultural importance of the Santa Cruz River, and the legacy of Chinese-owned grocery stores that once served neighborhoods across the city. Another segment follows Tohono O’odham potter Reuben Naranjo as he gathers desert materials and demonstrates traditional open-fire pottery techniques.
For the students, the project offered hands-on experience in documentary storytelling while engaging directly with the communities whose histories they were documenting. Working with Molomot, a Peabody Award–winning filmmaker, students participated in every stage of the filmmaking process – from research and interviews to cinematography and post-production.
As highlighted in a previous TFTV News story, several of the documentaries originally aired on AZPM’s Arizona Illustrated, before being included in Pima County’s online Tucson Heritage collection. All of the documentaries are now available online through the county’s Tucson Heritage video series.
Although the films were completed several years ago as part of the county’s outreach initiative, they have only recently been made widely available online, where they now serve as educational resources for classrooms and community audiences.
Together, the series offers a portrait of Tucson as a place shaped by centuries of cultural exchange, while highlighting the role student filmmakers can play in preserving and sharing those stories.
Read moreWatch the documentaries