J Paul Johnson
Co-produced by the husband-wife team of Christian Loubek and Erika Hamilton, the recently completed short film Belief makes the most of its precious ten minutes. In it, an African American husband and father celebrates one of life’s milestones: moving into a new house with his family. But Lennox (Mykee Selkin) is struck speechless when unpacking a moving box labeled “Mom.” In it, two possessions—one, a crystal doorknob, the other, a formal letter from a school administrator—trigger a flood of memories. In those short moments, Lennox realizes his life has unfolded differently than what he had previously understood.
Belief‘s is a script that allows Lennox to contemplate the sacrifices his own single mother made for his education, making for a moving tribute to motherhood more broadly. In an extended flashback, Lennox’s mother takes on her child’s “unusual” education even as she protects him from a harsh—and potentially debilitating—reality. The film is very much a family affair: Loubek conceived of the idea, composed the script, and directed and co-produced alongside Hamilton, who plays the role of Lennox’s mother, while the couple’s two children, Charley and Baer, respectively, play young Lennox and Lennox’s adult daughter in the film.
Though Belief is his first directorial effort, Loubek is an accomplished and experienced commercial director. Hamilton, meanwhile, is an actor and writer whose award-winning short film Out of Tune recently wrapped a successful festival tour. The two recently spoke with Film Obsessive publisher J Paul Johnson about their project. The transcript below has been edited for space and clarity.
Film Obsessive: It’s so great to have you both here. Christian, can I have you begin by telling our audience a little bit just about the film?
Christian Loubek: The film is and was inspired by Erika Hamilton, who is not only a tremendous actress, but also my wife, and it was written for her when she was first pregnant with our first child. It was born of some unfortunate circumstance. From that story, we shared this script, had a little bit of a cry, put it up on a shelf, and it sat for nine years until the children were of age to play the central role alongside her.
Wow. So it was your intent all along to make this a family affair? There is or there was never any intent to cast this with anyone other than with Erika or have it performed by anyone other than your own children?
Christian Loubek: This script couldn’t have been written without Erika and her family, for sure. However, the script was written prior to the children’s arrival. So they were just a star on the sky when it was written. And the story is a tribute to the transcendent power of mothers in our lives. So it’s a heartfelt journey, and we found an interesting way in the door. But as it sat on the shelf for nine years in an interesting way, life began to imitate art in certain themes that we had written. So the most delicious part was introducing our children into the narrative that was written before they had even [existed].
I’m going to come back to your children in just a second and ask Erika, first, what was your reaction? So did Christian pitch this to you essentially at a moment of trauma or a crisis or how did that conversation go?
Erika Hamilton: What happened is that I was newly pregnant and very excited. And my career had just started like getting some momentum, and I called my manager to let them know, and they fired me. And that really upset us in a time where we were supremely happy. And Christian was like, Well, I’m just going to write you an amazing role. I’m going to write you an amazing role that will highlight how powerful mothers are. And he showed me the script, and I cried right on the spot. It was so beautiful. And it highlighted parts that he always says, you have your strength and vulnerability, all these things. And it just was like, I I can’t wait to do this.
But then life happens. You have kids, and it’s crazy. And yeah, I did just sit on the shelf. And then when the time came around, well, last year, you know, we had some opportunity to shoot it. And I had a moment because I had auditions with both the kids during the pandemic. And my son is sometimes all over the place. And I was like, Christian, I don’t think we can count him. And he all along was, no, absolutely not. This is the way it’s going to be. And Baer, who you see in the film. It’s just so magnetic. And he was so on point a day before or a couple days before we really worked on the material. And he just he knew the intentions behind, you know, the few words he says, and he just got it. And my daughter, you know, delivers that last poetic moment. And yeah, it really really works. So I’m glad I let him direct.
It does work!
Christian Loubek: I’ll jump on that real quick because that I think that they’re In that what was seated in that moment was not only a desire to showcase Erika’s talent, but also to really center it on the often overlooked role of mothers in ours. And so that was where the real inspiration came from was rooted in something that gets so little air time. But it’s so critical to each one of us.
Let’s have one of you give a short little thumbnail sketch of what the script is and does, like who the protagonist is, what happens with the protagonist. I know with a short film, you can’t give away too much plot without giving away the whole thing. But how would you characterize it for our audience members who haven’t had the opportunity to see it yet?
Christian Loubek: Yeah. It’s a good question as to who the protagonist is because I think there’s a bit of a handoff in this, and I don’t necessarily want to give away the ending because it’s a movie that you’ll want to see to the end. But the movie is bookended: it starts and stops with a successful young man, Lennox, and his family, his wife and child, as they are moving into what is their version of their dream home. It’s a successful moment, a proud moment, a moment of peak potential. In those moving boxes, there’s one that’s beautifully worn and says, Mom right across the top, and he opens it up, and he finds a crystal door knob. And a letter, a letter that he recognizes, but doesn’t really remember in the way that the story unfolds. So once he opens that letter, it’s a bit of a Pandora’s box into his past that journeys him to remember all of the moments that made him who he is today.
That’s really lovingly told. And I’m impressed with a lot of what happens in the script, but I’ll just mention that the doorknob is something that seems, you know, completely innocuous, but you imbue it with all kinds of thematic meaning and resonance. And, you know, we think of doors in films very often as portals, right? They are places that characters go through to different dimensions or lives, and that’s something that your film explores and I think is rich in its possibilities.
Christian Loubek: Yeah. Yeah, I would like to say, I think we did something interesting with the structure of this film, something that, you know, I wouldn’t say it’s experimental, but I would say it’s unconventional in sort of distilling down all those rich elements of that a parent or a mother might give us in our lives. It was really, you know, it was never really the big ceremonial moments. It was never the big, dramatic beat that you expect in the movie where a parent sits down and writes that, you know, speaks that beautiful speech. What I remember more is the small little observations and the virtues of things like steadiness and consistency. And those don’t necessarily have the Hollywood dramatic beats that we might attribute to them.
So what we did is we sort of shotgunned out when this movie really gets going, sort of shotgun down out all of these unceremonious moments, put it out there. And then as the movie goes on, sort of you’re sort of left in a little bit of a mystery here. And as the movie goes on, the viewer, if done right, the viewer sort of puts together all the pieces and sort of comes together as you get closer and closer to the end to realize what it is that made this man, who he is today.
It’s really lovely in that regard. And I admit to you that it was a little bit of a surprise that I did not see coming. I sense that something was coming, but I did not know exactly what and what does come at the end, I think, yields not only something of a revelation for Lennox’s character, but something of one for us as well.
Christian Loubek: Yeah, it’s it’s not only a plot point, it’s a perspective shift. And that’s where a little bit, I think where you are able to revisit a lot of the moments that happened earlier in a satisfying way.
So can I ask Erika, what’s the shoot like? You’re there as actor, but your husband is the director, and your children are around here. Is this a film that took long to shoot, or did it proceed quickly?
Erika Hamilton: You know, it went in Hollywoodland fast and slow. We shot over the course of four days, and I met working with him. So I was completely confident and comfortable with Christian. But I had some worries about the kids. We shot in locations, we shot in our house. We turned our house upside down. There was how many different locations that we got from that?
Christian Loubek: So the beautiful part is nine years later when we pulled this script off and we remember the heartfelt nature of the story. We also reopened it and recognized with fresh eyes that we had 15 cast members in ten locations. Which is not exactly how you want to design a ten page script. But there’s as much as there’s a beauty to the story itself, there was a beauty in the process, and our community really came out in full force of those 15 cast members, 13 or friends of ours, part of our community off the playground. Yeah. All of the locations were either our home or other friends and family that contributed. So in some ways, I felt like we did we did have a very casual production in the sense that it was a very small crew, just four people. And we took our time doing it. No one was breaking their neck to get there at dawn.
Erika Hamilton: Yeah. You know, we had to take on, like I was the hair and makeup and the clothing and making sure everything was still, continuity was right. And there were a lot of little frazzled moments, but mostly it was a great shoot. Baer, my son, had to learn about the hurry-up- and-wait aspect of things. Hurry, get ready to get ready. Okay. And then sit and wait for all the, you know, things to get lined up, and shots to get centered. We had a fantastic DP named Derek Bauer. And yeah, him and Christian, that was the first time working together. They worked brilliantly together and just created magic. Every day, we had a little bit of fun, for sure.
Do either or both of your children have aspirations for this particular profession?
Erika Hamilton: Actually, it’s funny because I think they enjoyed it. They said they enjoyed it, and Baer specifically was like, Yeah, this is cool. I don’t think I need to do it again, though. With that said, I mean, we do a camp every summer where we’re asked to be a part of these teenager scripts. Baer has acted—Baer and Charley have both acted—a lot, and they can just step into the role so well. I imagine still more to see from them.
Christian Loubek: We’re still in the stage where it’s play. And I’ll give a little another anecdote on that one. Erika up until the day of, we knew Charley would be solid. We knew Erika was a seasoned actor as were the actors in the bookends of it. But up until the day of, Erika kept handing me headshots of other young children to play her son.
Erika Hamilton: I feel bad about that!
Christian Loubek: We were determined to do this together as a family and as a process. And I will say as a director, even though we were very casual about it, small crew, there was a moment day of when I realized the optics of my professional peers coming over to our house to film the director’s family. And I got a little bit uncomfortable. But we started on those scenes of young Lennox at the desk. And I would say it was in a two or three takes that Baer was rehearsed, ready, and just laid it down. And everyone sort of he sort of set the bar for everyone’s performance going forward.
And so, Christian, this is technically your first film. I mean, you have a wealth of experience in the industry, and so you’re not a novice in that regard. But I am curious in having written this script and having brought this film to its fruition, does it instill in you some ambition to do more or different work in this realm?
Christian Loubek: Absolutely. To be fair, I’ve developed several feature films over the years, and I’ve had various stages of development happen. We’ve been green lit on a couple of films. We have had A-list actors involved, but it has never quite connected in the way that I had imagined. But there’s a beautiful poetry to that and the fact that what really unlocked this first film was my wife. And I think that was a really special moment for us, given the backstory to all that goes on that went on with this film.
And Belief is just beginning its festival run, is that right? You’ve been to a couple of places, one quite recently. Can I have you talk a little bit about your experience on the festival circuit? And then maybe where else we can see the film?
Erika Hamilton: Well, we had our world premiere at LA Shorts, which is an Oscar BAFTA qualifying festival. And then just last week, we screened at Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, which is also an Oscar-qualifying [festival], and we were one of five nominated as the Best in Short. And so we had wonderful screenings at both, a sold-out crowd in LA and just an amazing crowd in Martha’s. And yeah, we’re waiting for what’s next.
Christian Loubek: Let just say one more thing about screening. Both theaters were very large and we screened to full houses, and I think in LA was about 200-plus in the LA Live Regal Cinemas, and that was a very industry-facing audience. So we had our cast, we had our crew, we had our friends and family there and it was a very industry-facing audience that we were, you know, you’re never quite sure how it will be received. So we were very excited that we had we were given a lot of love. And the kids came up onstage to participate in the Q&A. And then last week was a very different audience in Martha’s Vineyard, a very prestigious, largely African American, full house, maybe 250-plus, which was also an extremely enriching experience.
That is so exciting for the two of you. So I assume that Erika, you are continuing to act and that Christian, you’re looking for more opportunities to direct, and the two of you are continuing to parent. Anything specific and new on your horizons, or is it just continuing with the festival circuit for Belief at this moment?
Erika Hamilton: Well, I’m also a writer, and we are collaborating in some future. We’re a team now. This is unlocked us to be making more things together. And so, yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely acting writing.
Christian Loubek: Erika has a wonderful series in the mix called Out of Tune that is based on a short film that she had written prior, a beautiful story. I have a couple of independent feature films that we’re very excited about. Again, if you asked me about my filmmaking, I would say Belief is a departure from my normal because belief comes earnestly straight from the heart, and that was a very vulnerable place to me. I usually like to walk in the door with a little bit more humor.
But I will also say that what really was unlocked in me is a desire to do more short films to play around, to be more experimental. Like I said, I have—I think you mentioned that I have—been a director for the last 20 years in the commercial space, but look forward to sort of being the Benjamin Buttons of directors and working backwards in terms of my budget into a more freeing space. It’s been such a joy to not only make this film and be surrounded by people who make films straight from the heart, but also to be in a community of people that support each other and help each other through it. So I found it a really rewarding experience.
That’s a lovely message, Christian. And so is the message of your film Belief. And congratulations to both you and Erika for getting it completed—and getting it completed in the way you wanted to get it completed, with the assistance and sustenance of your own family and getting out into the world. And I’m really optimistic for other viewers to be able to see it in the near future. So thank you both for taking the time to talk with Film Obsessive today.
Christian Loubek: Thank you. We appreciate it, Paul.
Erika Hamilton: Thank you.
