Fairhaven filmmaker inspired by the Salem Witch Trials delivers a message for today

Matthew Ferreira, Standard-Times
·8 min read

FAIRHAVEN — Whether looking at the distant past, present or any point in between, Fairhaven resident and 2021 University of Rhode Island graduate Alyssa Botelho believes "there's something to the core of humans that stays the same."

It's this sense of universality that Botelho, 23, says she has tried to capture on-screen with her latest filmmaking effort, titled "To Dust All Return," which recently earned her two College/University Production Awards, commonly known as "Student Emmys," from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences — "Best Short Form - Fiction" and "Best Director."

Scars of the past

Described as a "historical thriller," Botelho says "To Dust All Return" addresses New England's dark days of witch hunts and all the hysteria-driven tragedy which marked the era.

"I drew a lot from the Salem Witch Trials for it. The story is fictional but it's set in that time period," Botelho said, noting that the writing process began in summer of 2020. "I wanted to do something that was a female-driven story. The things I’ve done in the past were all about guys, and, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I just wanted to do a female-driven coming-of-age sort of thing."

Fairhaven resident Alyssa Botelho is seen on the set of "To Dust All Return" for which she recently won two "Student Emmys" for best short-film fiction, and best director for a short film.
Fairhaven resident Alyssa Botelho is seen on the set of "To Dust All Return" for which she recently won two "Student Emmys" for best short-film fiction, and best director for a short film.

Botelho explained that the setting of "To Dust All Return" is somewhat ambiguous, taking place in an unspecified New England community sometime in the 1700s. "There are some references to real places in it — for example, there's some references to Dartmouth — but the story takes place in a fictional setting."

The real setting behind the fictional one, Botelho said, was the Aptucxet Trading Post in Bourne. A re-creation of the original structure established at the site in 1627 on the banks of what is now the Cape Cod Canal, the trading post was once used by Plimoth Plantation residents as a hub of three-way trade between pilgrims, the Dutch and Native Americans, according to the Bourne Historical Society website.

"I started scouting for locations after I finished the script in January of last year," she said, noting having seen work by Bourne filmmakers who had filmed there. "Theirs came out so amazing I said, 'This is the one!'"

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The 'nitty-gritty details'

But when it came to the work of recreating a past era, finding a place to film was only one layer, as Botelho and her team did the research to be as true to the time as possible.

"There was a lot of historical research, a lot of Googling for certain things that people wore and used, which I find so fun," she said.

At one point, being a Fairhaven resident came in especially handy, Bothelo said, when she was able to recruit the help of the town's Tourism Director Chris Richards. "He knows so much about history and all these nitty-gritty details," she said. "When the film starts off, the main character is walking to her house holding a lantern, and we wanted to get it right, so I messaged him (Richards) and said hey ... do you know anything about the lanterns people would have been using at this time? How did they look? Were they candles? Oil?

"And he came back with a ton of information and was able to point out all these things, like, 'It would have been this kind of wood' and how instead of glass they actually had this thin type of wax or fat."

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While it was tedious work that may be lost on some, to Botelho, going the extra mile for historical accuracy was well worth the effort.

"Little things like that, I think, go a long way because, first shot, if you see a lantern that doesn’t look like it belongs in the time period, automatically you’re not immersed in the world and you’re just mentally checked out," she said.

Fairhaven High class of 2017 alum Alyssa Botelho (far right) is seen on the set of "To Dust All Return" for which she recently won two "Student Emmys" for best short-film fiction, and best director for a short film.
Fairhaven High class of 2017 alum Alyssa Botelho (far right) is seen on the set of "To Dust All Return" for which she recently won two "Student Emmys" for best short-film fiction, and best director for a short film.

Personal history

Botelho — a member of Fairhaven High School's class of 2017 — says inspiration from her own past experiences also played into the creative process behind "To Dust All Return" and her passion to make films in general.

"I was in 'The Crucible' at Fairhaven High — which I think is like a rite of passage for theater kids — and we took a trip to Salem to get in the right headspace for it, so that was something that always stuck with me, and I wanted to do more in that time period," she said, noting having taken another trip to Salem shortly before starting production on "To Dust All Return."

But before an interest in witch trials, or in filmmaking, Botelho credits an early love of reading as a driving force behind her creativity.

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"I always wanted to be a writer — I had a library card since I was like a week old, and I was always in the Millicent Library in Fairhaven with stacks and stacks of books," Botelho said. "Then I shifted towards filmmaking and video creation when I got to Fairhaven High School and I took Mr. (Drew) Furtado’s media production class. It was just so cool to be able to write something, create something in your head, and then translate that into visuals that people can watch."

By her senior year, Botelho says media classes made up most of her class schedule. "I think I had only maybe two regular academic classes," she said. "So high school is really where I got my interest in filmmaking and I decided to continue with it."

Fairhaven resident Alyssa Botelho's short film "To Dust All Return" recently won two "Student Emmys" for best short-film fiction, and best director for a short film.
Fairhaven resident Alyssa Botelho's short film "To Dust All Return" recently won two "Student Emmys" for best short-film fiction, and best director for a short film.

Future plans

After her experience making "To Dust All Return" which wrapped up post-production work in May 2021, Botelho says she has found a new sense of direction in her filmmaking that she plans to carry on into future projects.

"I definitely didn't realize this was my thing until recently, but after making this one, I think it's pretty solidified," she said of crafting stories set in past eras. "I think I'm going to be doing period pieces from here on out; modern stories bore me."

In fact, Botelho says her future plans include a fleshing out of the "To Dust All Return" script into a full-length feature. But before extending the work that took her over two years to create from start to finish, she says she'll be making another short film — but this one will be started and completed within two days. "I'm pretty sure my team and I are going to do the Providence 48-Hour Film Project again in August," Botelho said, noting having earned some first-place victories with last year's entry. "It starts on a Friday night then you have all of Saturday to film, and you kind of want to edit on Sunday, then it’s due Sunday evening."

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Learning from the past

As far as messaging, Botelho says there is an overall takeaway she hopes "To Dust All Return" effectively gets across to audiences.

"I’m reading Mark Twain right now, and a good quote in his story ‘The Mysterious Stranger’ that I think is reflected in 'To Dust All Return' is ‘Fright frenzied their reason,'" Botelho said. "I think a lot of times we let emotions take over us and ... evil begets greater evil. It’s this chain reaction of what you do to others being amplified in ways that you might not expect."

Fairhaven High class of 2017 alum Alyssa Botelho recently won two "Student Emmys" for best short-film fiction, and best director for a short film.
Fairhaven High class of 2017 alum Alyssa Botelho recently won two "Student Emmys" for best short-film fiction, and best director for a short film.

As for aspiring filmmakers who, like herself, are not from places like New York City or Los Angeles, and do not have built-in Hollywood connections, Botelho — who noted graduating with a second major in business management as a means to support her filmmaking — says don't let popular industry perceptions deter aspirations. "Google people who you admire and who have, quote-unquote, 'made it,' because you’re going to find often that many people came from no-name towns and regular parents. There’s a lot of people with great success stories," she said, noting one of her inspirations, Oscar-winning writer/director Brian Helgeland, who grew up in New Bedford, and has been behind a host of major Hollywood hits, including "L.A. Confidential" and the Jackie Robinson biopic "42." Recently, his film "Finestkind" starring Tommy Lee Jones just wrapped up production after having filmed at multiple SouthCoast locations in New Bedford and Fairhaven.

"With filmmaking, especially, there's so much nepotism, it can be hard because you kind of feel like you’re in a bubble, but you just keep chugging along."

Botelho says she expects to make "To Dust All Return" available publicly online on her YouTube channel in October, after its current film festival run is complete.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Fairhaven filmmaker wins student Emmy for film inspired by witch trials