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[0:00] Jason A. Coombs: Hello everybody, this is Jason A. Coombs and this is Where the Light Lands. We're here in the Welcome to Times Square Studios. Today we're sitting down with Tobias Zuniga-Shaw, producer of Hope, a short documentary directed by Javier Cruz-Ginez that had its New York City premiere at the 2026 Tribeca Festival. Narrated by Javier, the only member of his family to cross the border, the film revisits his parents' migration story and the really painful reality that keeps them from ever coming home. It's an intimate, deeply human story about family, about borders, and what it truly costs to belong somewhere. I'm so glad I got to talk with Tobias and just share such a beautiful and important story with audiences. Enjoy. Okay, Tobias, how are you?

[0:56] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Doing great. We're really excited to be here at Tribeca 26. It's our first time at the festival and it's just so great to have this platform to feature our story in.

[1:06] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, so you're here at the Tribeca Film Festival for the very first time. How incredible is that?

[1:12] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Oh, it's amazing. I think it's for our, we have a small team of four and it's all of our first time at a kind of festival of this level. I mean, yeah, this is, I mean, this is one of the biggest in the world.

[1:23] Jason A. Coombs: It is. So, it's really huge for us and, you know, we got in, this was originally a student thesis project for Javier, our director, did this as his thesis project for his undergrad.

[1:33] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Gotcha. And we submitted without knowing anybody, without having any relationships, and just happened to get in and fit in the programming this year. So, all kind of happened by chance, but we're really, really excited to be here.

[1:44] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah. I love that. I love that so much. Now, can you tell me a little bit about your role on the film and what the film is about, and a name. I'm not sure if I asked you the name of the film as well.

[1:52] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Yeah, so our film is called, the original title is La Esperanza, which translates to hope in English. Yeah. It's programmed here in Tribeca. Essentially, the film is a 15-minute portrait of a very specific immigration experience. So, our director Javier Cruz, his parents immigrated to the U.S. 25 years ago, and he's been the only one that's able to travel back and forth. So, he's kind of this proxy between families, and the connection point that connects their families. So, it's a very intimate story about his experience of immigration, and it connects to a lot of larger themes about immigration in the U.S., and the kind of deeper complexities of that. So, you know, with immigration as such a large topic in the media, and how often it gets twisted, I think it's really important to be telling stories like this that highlight the real experiences, and the human experiences of families that are just living their everyday lives, trying to make it work, and grieving the loss of having to leave home for the pursuit of a dream, or for whatever reason. So, we just really wanted to give a window into that experience with this film.

[2:59] Jason A. Coombs: I love that. I mean, it's so timely. Like, one of my favorite quotes is by Nina Simone, who says, in Artist's Duty, as far as she's concerned, it's reflected times, right? And your film sounds so timely, so important to what's happening in the world today. Why are stories that are this personal important to share with a wider audience?

[3:18] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Yeah, I think that for a topic like immigration, it's really important to share stories that are so intimate, because not everyone has a personal connection to this kind of thing, and they're just hearing from media, or from other people, and that can create a really singular perspective that's not always positive. So, I think in terms of building empathy, and allowing people to gain perspective on what immigration is really like, these films can be a window into that a lot of the times, for people that are at the festival, or who may find it online later on. It's, like you said, it's just very timely, and it's so important for people to understand that there's a lot of complexity in being an immigrant, and also being the child of an immigrant in the U.S.

[3:54] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, that's so powerful. Thank you for sharing the story. Thanks for bringing it here. I want to talk to you, because I feel like it's such a almost unheard of thing for a first-time filmmaker to get into Tribeca, without any connections, like you said.

[4:04] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Yeah. So, what has that experience like to submit your film? Did you submit early deadline? Tell us a little bit about the process, if you don't mind.

[4:15] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, yeah, it's been huge for us to be at Tribeca, and I feel, we feel really honored to be selected here, and be a part of this community. We submitted without any connections. We did do early, early deadline with the student discount. Yeah. Just kind of on a whim, hoping that maybe something would happen. If we didn't, whatever, you know, just putting our shots out there, and when we heard back, it was just, you know, it's such a huge deal. It's such a huge platform. Huge deal. And, you know, Ben, the VP of shorts, has been really great, and I think his programming has been excellent, especially for our block, and the where we belong.

[5:02] Jason A. Coombs: I love that. Thinking about the notion of home, through immigration, and all these different perspectives, and I think it was really, it was really great for us to fit in that category, and kind of be in conversation with these other shorts that are thinking about similar themes.

[5:11] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Oh, wow. Super congrats again. I think that's so special, and so motivating. Thank you. Like, I would never be brave enough to submit to Tribeca, and now I think I am. I think you really, I feel like sometimes you really think, like, it's all about having a connection. It's all about who you know, which is a lot of times it is, but that's the fact that you guys did this, and you're here in New York City at the Tribeca Film Festival, one of the biggest festivals in the world.

[5:28] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Yeah. Truly, truly impressive. Truly incredible. Big kudos. One final question before we go. What's a secret, or maybe something that us regular muggles don't know about the Tribeca Film Festival, as someone on the inside?

[5:38] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Secret about Tribeca? Yeah, or something you probably, we probably don't know. Like, is there a lot of parties that you get invited to? Is a lot of, like, give us a little deep that we don't know.

[5:48] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Yeah, I think our team, this is our first festival season, so we've been in person to about five different festivals, and they've all been great, but Tribeca by far has been the most, kind of, professional and well set up, and the parties are amazing. I mean, you're invited to two to three things every night, whether they're hosted by filmmakers, by Tribeca themselves, and the amount of people you're able to meet here is just incredible, and everyone, everyone's here. Whatever you want to do, they're here.

[6:17] Jason A. Coombs: But I think for us, one of the things we noticed the most that we weren't expecting necessarily was how open and kind everyone was, and, you know, you think of the name Tribeca and the institution of that, and it's such a huge name, and there's so many celebrities and legendary filmmakers attached to it that it can be intimidating at first.

[6:34] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: I'm sure it's overwhelming, yeah. For a younger group of filmmakers, but we've been met with nothing but kindness and generosity and genuine interest by the people here, and I think that's been really eye-opening to us, kind of, moving into these spaces, so if that can be any encouragement for other filmmakers who are kind of intimidated by this, it's really not always what it seems. People are really kind and want to support you, so.

[6:54] Jason A. Coombs: Cool. Yeah. That's really incredible. Last question. What's next for the film? You said you had been to about five, six festivals so far.

[7:04] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Yeah. You have submissions to others. It's still the beginning of the run, right?

[7:10] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: We do, yeah. So this is our New York premiere. We've played at Athens International Film and Video Festivals, where we premiered. Then we were at Chicago International Cine Youth, and now we're here, and then we've got a couple more regional festivals coming up, where you can check out the film. We'll maybe tag our social medias or something. Tell us what our social medias are, please.

[7:28] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Do you want me to say the ads here? You can say it. Yeah, you can say it. Yeah. So mine is, I'm one of the producers, is Tobias is Okay, and I have all the links and information in my bio for the people who follow along, but yeah, we're trying to find distribution. We're in the festival circle right now, and the circuit right now, so hopefully it'll be available online at some point in the next year.

[7:46] Jason A. Coombs: Awesome. Congratulations, Tobias. Thank you very much. Yeah. Enjoy the rest of your run.

[7:50] Tobias Zuniga-Shaw: Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Cool.