Touched

Director Karl R. Hearne, writing about his film for its press kit, stated, “Touched is a film that crosses genres–ghost story, a slow-burning psychological drama, that at its core has two isolated beings, loveless and abused, finding a haven in each other. It’s a story about lonliness–the need for human companionship that resurfaces in Gabriel’s life after years of increased isolation. When his tenant disappears, Gabriel starts an investigation that is also his attempt to re-engage with the world. And in the same apartment where his tenant disappeared, he meets a little girl. Gabriel seems to feel a connection to her, a shared trauma in childhood, shared traits. She is a version of the child and the family he will never have, a vision of all he has missed out on. Maybe she’s leading him diown a path to ruin. Or maybe she will help to light his way.

Touched was named Best Narrative Film at the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival. It is the first feature film by Karl R. Hearne and has won critical acclaim at more than 14 film festivals.