Into Daylight By Stephanie Botelho

- A young man plans a birthday surprise for his deaf girlfriend hoping to get more intimate with her only to realize later that he took things too far.

Into Daylight

By Stephanie Botelho

Into Daylight is about the intimate relationship between a young man, Mark, and his deaf girlfriend, Emma. While spending an evening at the beach, Mark teases Emma about the surprise he has planned for her birthday the following evening.

Mark surprises Emma with a romantic dinner after which he gives her a silk nightgown as a gift. They have sex for the first time. Mark believes he planned the perfect night, but realizes that Emma does not feel the same way when she rushes out of his apartment.

Through a discussion he has with his sister, Sam, Mark discovers that he unintentionally raped Emma. In attempts to right his horrific wrong, Mark rushes over to Emma’s house and apologizes. Emma tells him to never treat another woman in the same manner. She leaves, distraught but empowered.

Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Director Stephanie Botelho discovered her appreciation for emotions – of any kind - at an early age. At the age of 11, she began taking acting classes as a way of expressing her emotions. While attending those classes, Stephanie realized something she would remember forever – more than demonstrating her emotions, acting meant making people feel their own. At 14, Stephanie decided what she wanted for her life was to touch people’s hearts and souls, and to help them discover feelings they might not even have known about through storytelling. She then decided a good way of doing so – if not the best way – would be to move to the United States, to learn more about storytelling and experience those unknown feelings herself. After that decision, a new journey began.

Stephanie dedicated her full time to learning English to get into an American university. At 17, she lived in San Diego, California for six months dedicating herself only to the English language. She then went back to Brazil to finish high school, and at 19 moved permanently to the United States to attend college as a theater major. Throughout her acting years, she acted in over 10 plays – both in Brazil and in the United States, and has worked as a director and assistant director in a couple more. Her acting experience enhances her communication with actors, and helps them achieve their best performance.

Throughout college, she found herself in love with working behind the scenes, especially on film sets. Therefore, when the time came to transfer to a four year university, she decided to dedicate herself entirely to expanding her knowledge on film production.

Besides being passionate about filmmaking, Stephanie loves being surrounded by people and believes teamwork is essential to any project.

Into Daylight is not only her Senior Thesis Project, but also her debut on screen. The film has been awarded Best Women Short and Best Female Student Director on the International Short Awards.