The directors of the new faith-based film I Still Believe say fans of romantic movies will get the enchanting story they crave – yet it is told through a biblical lens that reveals the true definition of love.

I Still Believe (PG) opens this weekend, telling the true story of Christian singer Jeremy Camp’s marriage to his first wife, Melissa, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer shortly after they met.

The film has received mainstream appeal due to its well-known lead actors, K.J. Apa and Britt Robertson, who play Jeremy and Melissa. Seventeen Magazine called I Still Believe the most-anticipated romantic film of the year.

It was co-directed by Jon and Andrew Erwin, who also co-directed the 2018 hit I Can Only Imagine.

“People are going to go for the romance, and it’s going to fulfill on that level, and yet they’re going to get God’s love, and they’re going to get a new view of what a real love story is – not only between two people, but also with God,” Jon Erwin told Christian Headlines. “There’s a real opportunity with this movie on that front, especially for younger people.”

The love in I Still Believe, he added, is “sacrificial” and “selfless.”

“It’s laying down your life for someone that you love,” he said.

Put another way, Erwin said, it’s the opposite of “today’s narcissistic culture where everything is about me.”

Andrew Erwin said Apa and Robertson “definitely” took the story “to another level.”

“The chemistry between the two actors and the way that the story is told absolutely is a gorgeous love story,” he said.

Yet the film “doesn’t sacrifice” anything by “having an innocent point of view,” Andrew Erwin said.

His brother agreed.

“When teenage girls see the movie, they don’t say it’s too innocent,” Jon Erwin said. “They actually say, ‘I want to be loved like that.’”

The film’s innocence will be “refreshingly new” for a young audience – an audience that “craves authenticity,” Andrew Erwin added.

“I think it’s a tremendous opportunity for the gospel,” he said.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10