For anyone out there who thinks that Alan Ball’s only concern these days is the reception of his new HBO series “True Blood,” festival audiences and Hollywood executives might let them in on the avalanche of controversy barreling toward the creator of “American Beauty” and HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” Mr. Ball’s directorial debut, “Towelhead,” about a 13-year-old Lebanese-American girl who struggles with sexual obsession, an aggressive and bigoted neighbor, and her strict father, is set to arrive on New York screens next Friday, months after polarizing the Sundance Film Festival. Not surprisingly, the title alone has angered, among other groups, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Wait till they see what comes after the title.

“Some people have written some pretty negative things about the movie,” Mr. Ball acknowledged recently of the screenplay he adapted from Alicia Erian’s novel of the same name. “But I’m extremely proud of it. I would rather people hate this movie than just shrug after seeing it. It’s a story that’s going to push a lot of emotional buttons.”

Fans of the screenwriter and playwright will recognize familiar themes in “Towelhead,” especially the morbid sense of humor that ran wild in “Six Feet Under” and the suburban prison that Mr. Ball skewered in “American Beauty.” But if “Towelhead,” which is set in 1991 in the suburbs of Austin, Texas, seems dressed in the same attire as his previous work, it operates under an even denser code of morals. When Kevin Spacey’s character arrived at his moment of truth in “American Beauty,” the screenplay to which earned Mr. Ball an Oscar, he pulled himself back from the brink of sexual temptation rather than bed his teenage daughter’s vulnerable friend. In “Towelhead,” the tempted male — this time played bravely by Aaron Eckhart — discards any sense of self-control. For many at Sundance, this is where “Towelhead” crosses the line.

“Here we have a story where there’s this double dose of shame,” Mr. Ball said recently. “In a way, the story’s two themes are connected. Being an ethnic minority can create a sense of shame, but so can sexuality; young women are not supposed to be sexually curious. It’s considered ‘not nice.’ Nice girls don’t do that.”

Where Mr. Ball has typically balanced his narratives between his adult characters’ midlife crises and their children’s growing pains, “Towelhead” focuses squarely on the not-so-innocent Jasira (the 20-year-old Summer Bishil). Early in the film, Jasira, the daughter of an American mother (Maria Bello) and a Lebanese father (Peter Macdissi) who are divorced, becomes caught in an awkward, sexually suggestive situation with her mother’s boyfriend. After berating her, Jasira’s mother banishes her to live with her father in Houston, where her ethnicity — not her sexuality — becomes the predominant issue. Jasira’s new neighbor, Travis (Mr. Eckhart), a military serviceman about to ship out for a tour of duty in the Gulf War, finds her exotic to say the least. So do her classmates. Jasira’s father is equally caught up with appearances, both his own and his daughter’s. He lashes out at Jasira for wearing revealing clothing and acting promiscuous.

“Towelhead” is about the walls — the good ones and the bad ones — that divide these characters. Jasira’s father insulates himself in his home and casts a critical eye toward all who surround him. Travis stares longingly out the window at his young neighbor. They all populate the same cul-de-sac, but they seem worlds apart. It is only another neighbor, Melina (Toni Collette), who recognizes the pressure being applied to Jasira by the various men in her life.

“Anytime anyone allows themselves to get so repressed, to become so boxed into a life they don’t find fulfilling, things start to get dangerous,” Mr. Ball said of a theme that could be applied to much of his work. “And the more you start denying yourself the opportunity to live a life that is fulfilling, it doesn’t take long for bad things to start to happen.”

Those “bad things” include an awkward bit of sexual experimentation involving Jasira and one of her classmates, a more disturbing sexual confrontation between Jasira and Travis, and a jarring, violent outburst from Jasira’s father, who becomes terrified that his daughter is tarnishing the family name — never mind what she may be doing to herself. Mr. Ball described his delicate preparations for these scenes (particularly the potentially scandalous one with Travis and Jasira), and also how he tried to avoid excessive rehearsals in the hope of capturing the emotions and the discomfort in the performances.

“It was more difficult for Aaron than it was [for Ms. Bishil], because Aaron was so clearly disapproving of his character’s actions as a man,” the director said. “But I allowed them to read the script and work themselves to it. We had very, very brief rehearsals — less than two weeks — because you want people to find things when the cameras are actually rolling. You want to get all that anxiety and tension on the screen.”

Though Jasira is subjected to harsh and demeaning treatment in “Towelhead,” she is not portrayed as a defeated soul — nor, notably, as a victim. This was a central thesis in the source material, one that drew Mr. Ball to Ms. Erian’s novel. Much as the characters and families in his previous work were on flawed quests for self-discovery, so is Jasira coming to terms, not always ably, with her body and her sexuality. If she is anyone’s victim, “Towelhead” seems to say, she is her own. But she will recover.

“With so many stories like this, when people read it or see it on TV or in the movies, the implication is that the woman is destroyed, she’s scarred for life and will never fully recover,” Mr. Ball said. “I’m not saying it’s not a traumatic experience, but it’s an incredibly common experience for a lot of women, and it seems wrong for pop culture to suggest they are all destroyed.”

ssnyder@nysun.com