Cameras are rolling across Costa Rica on Hope/Esperanza, an indie romantic drama from Oscar-winning producer Mark Johnson, with principal photography set to continue at locations throughout the country until the end of May. The production began shooting on April 13 and will run for five weeks, employing more than 200 Costa Rican cast and crew members. Filming is taking place across multiple regions, including the communities of Pacayas and Bagaces, where local businesses are seeing a boost in transportation, lodging, food service, and logistics work tied to the shoot.
Johnson, whose credits include Rain Man, The Holdovers, and the Breaking Bad universe, is producing the film alongside Costa Rican producer Esteban Quesada VizcaÃno. Mexico City-based Alejandra Cardenas serves as executive producer, with Sarah Quintero and Jessica Mollo co-producing. The film marks a tonal departure for Johnson, best known for prestige television and awards-circuit dramas through his two-decade collaboration with AMC.
Emmy-winning documentarian Abby Fuller is directing from her own screenplay, making her narrative feature debut. Fuller earned her reputation on Netflix’s Chef’s Table and was Emmy-nominated for Mastermind: To Think Like a Killer. The script is loosely based on a period of her own youth. Cinematographer Alexander D. Paul, another Chef’s Table veteran, is shooting the film, with Rocio Gimenez of Friendship serving as production designer.
Set in the early 2000s, Hope/Esperanza follows a teenager from upstate New York who joins a foreign exchange program in Costa Rica to escape her traditional suburban life. Her search for freedom narrows under the rule of a strict host mother in a small, gossip-fueled town, until a forbidden romance with an undocumented Nicaraguan immigrant upends everything — placing both of them at risk as tensions around immigration intensify. Newcomer Olivia Daponde stars as the protagonist, alongside Mayra Hermosillo of Narcos, Betsy Brandt of Breaking Bad, Virgilio Delgado of No One Will Miss Us, and Lara Yuja Mora of Abril.
Costa Rica’s Film Incentives
The shoot is moving forward under Costa Rica’s Film Investment Attraction Law, our country’s primary tool for luring international productions. The incentive offers a cash rebate of 90 percent of taxes paid on eligible local expenditures, with no cap and no budget-line restrictions. Rebates are returned to producers within 60 days, and foreign crew and talent are exempt from local income tax. Equipment imported for productions enters the country tax-free.
Laura López, general manager of the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promoter (PROCOMER), said the start of principal photography on Hope/Esperanza confirms that Costa Rica has both the conditions to attract creative-industry investment and the capacity to execute these projects with excellence. The production is being coordinated through PROCOMER and the Costa Rica Film Commission in partnership with municipalities, local communities, and designated film-friendly zones.
Costa Rica’s audiovisual sector has seen sustained growth in recent years. The country attracted $11.17 million in foreign audiovisual investment in 2025 across 87 international productions, an increase of 41 over the previous year, according to PROCOMER. Major studios including Warner Bros. are among the companies that have shot in Costa Rica during that period.
The majority of the Hope/Esperanza crew hails from Costa Rica, with additional contributors drawn from elsewhere in Latin America. A release date for the film has not been announced.
