Ingrid and Adnan are both firebrands, clashing over ideology. At the same time, they are also allies, concerned with some of the same evils. So while at face value their relationship should be possible, at a subconscious level it feels forbidden.

That claustrophobic situation is what we were most interested in when developing and shooting The Intimate Touch. The film isn’t about their arguments, ultimately. It’s about the emotional conflict between and within them, as ideology stifles their connection.

This is interesting to us not just because of the current political climate, but because of our own experiences. We were both born into a strict religious community, which our family eventually withdrew from and rejected. Because of this, our upbringing occurred abroad, in isolated environments, under an ideological regime that placed severe limitations on education, freedom of physical movement, and personal expression.

But it was the unrelenting inner voice that left the deepest tracks. To be in a cult is to be constantly subordinating your deepest feelings to a belief system that is hostile to any thought or emotion not focused on achieving its mission. So the words you speak are controlled by what your doctrine claims is wrong, rather than what you feel is right.

Ingrid and Adnan are in that same position. At its heart, The Intimate Touch is a classic tale of forbidden love – but with one important difference: What’s forbidding their love is not the world around them but their own moral convictions.