Outstanding student: U of A graduate Tatum Sailors makes history

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — As the school year comes to a close, we're meeting some outstanding graduates at the University of Arizona. Among them is Tatum Sailors, who is making history for the U of A School of Theatre Film and Television.

For Tatum, the U of A's film program was the perfect fit.

I really liked how the film school was a little more holistic, and I didn't have to pick one avenue to go down, I was able to kind of try out everything," she said. "And I kind of enjoyed all parts of film, so I was very excited to kind of learn it all."

Her freshman year came at the height of the pandemic, which brought on its own challenges, but Tatum has been busy ever since.

"At this point, I have shot 10 short films here as the director of photography, and then I've worked on a bunch.

Not only was on top of a full classload, Tatum has continuously put on multiple hats when it comes to each production.

Take her senior thesis, the short film "Dear Addie."

"I shot the film, I directed the film, I did the editing for the film, and the sound design, which isn't entirely typical," she explained. "I kind of just really enjoy doing all parts."

She also wrote the script, and did all the sound recreation. The list goes on, and her hard work paid off at the U of A's big screening event earlier this month, where her film won a major award. No surprise, a film she also worked on won the same award the year before.

But another short film Tatum made, is also getting serious recognition.

"The previous semester, I made this short documentary, called 'At 7', which is about my little cousin who has type one diabetes," she explained. "I made that in the documentary class here."

But now, the film has gone way beyond the classroom. Tatum actually had to get our her phone to read the list of all the festivals where it's been shown.

It was screened at the 'What's Up Doc' screening for all the documentaries at the U of A. It then went to the Wonder House at South by Southwest, the Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival, the Student World Impactful Festival, San Diego Comic Con, the San Diego International Kids Film Festival, the Sioux City International Film Festival, the Chicago International Children's Film Festival (which is Academy Award qualifying), and then the Children's Film Festival in Seattle.

The short film is also what connected Tatum to her agent, who she just signed with. He's also making her the first student from the University of Arizona School of Film, Theatre and Television, to be graduating with professional representation. It's also coming just in time for her to move to LA this summer, where she plans to start her career.

"I definitely think I want to start out with cinematography, and being an awesome camera woman. But then ultimately, I think I want to direct," Tatum said. "It's going to be very exciting. I'm getting to do what I love, all the time."