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AE: There is a scene in café that is a prelude to the intimate scene in Jesse’s apartment, where Nick doesn’t respond when Jesse asks him if he thinks the girl behind the counter is cute. It struck me as another example of the way gay people try to figure out if someone they are interested in is also gay without coming out and asking. And then Jesse invites him to share his bed, and they slowly inch closer together.
JB: They’re both trying to feel each other out. For Nick, it’s more of a non-verbal thing. The inching together--I just felt like nothing needed to be said. At this point, they’re just letting their hearts be open. Nick is very aware of Jesse and has been and he’s trying to understand his feelings toward Jesse and Jesse’s feelings in response.

AE: With both Eban and Charley and The Graffiti Artist, you seem to be a filmmaker who has taken an interest in representing the youth culture segment of the LGBT. Is your next film in the same genre?
JB: The next film is a little different, but it does deal with gay youth (laughs); but a different contingent of gay youth. My next film takes place in the South and it’s a little different environment than this particular film. These kids live in a metropolitan area, Portland, Oregon and Seattle, and the next film takes place in the rural South. It’s a really exciting time of the gay youth community. As I said a minute ago, I think more kids are feeling more comfortable with being themselves and being open about sexuality and experimenting with and exploring their sexuality. Things are changing for the better. The more this happens, the more things will improve for gay youth. Some of these punk and indie rock kids are very open about sexuality and there is a huge gay contingent among them who aren’t afraid to be out and be public with their relationships. It’s wonderful for me to be able to explore and deal with it in my films.

AE: I’m glad that you mentioned indie rock, because the soundtracks to both of your films incorporate that world. Stephin Merritt from Magnetic Fields did the soundtrack to Eban and Charley and the score for The Graffiti Artist was done by hip-hop DJ Kid Loco. How important is the musical aspect of your films?
JB: Each film has to be taken as a separate thing and decided on as far as what role the music is going to play. It was very important in this film, and I knew it from the beginning, that having a film that was very visual, with very little dialogue, I wanted something that worked with the images to create a rhythm. I think the images have a rhythm of their own. I wanted something that complemented that.

Originally, Kid Loco did a full eighty-minute score for the film. It was something that we wanted to explore early on. Ultimately, it worked better to just have silence. It was something that we needed to try in the editing room. I’ve always felt that movies are made in the editing room, anyway. We ended up using about two-thirds of the music that he composed.

I wanted (to work with) someone that could do something really creative and new. I’m really excited about his work. It’s got a hip-hop element and a rock guitar element and an indie rock feel. He even uses a sitar in the main theme of the film and it’s a really unique instrument to hip-hop. He’s somebody that I wanted to work with because he’s so diverse. I just love his work as a composer and producer/remixer.

AE: You have also experienced success at film festivals with your movies, including The Graffiti Artist.
JB: The film’s been playing in nearly every major international film festival and also in the gay and lesbian film festivals. The film has a gay element, but I think it is indicative of the way things are changing in that it’s not just a gay film. It’s not uniquely gay in that it’s gay from beginning to end. I’m getting a terrific response from the kids in the skateboarding and graffiti subcultures that I’ve been talking about. When we screened it at Berlin (Film Festival), there were probably a thousand teenagers in the audience and the response was overwhelmingly positive for the film and the way that these characters are portrayed. At a number of screenings in various places, people have come up to me and (say things such as), “I’ve been doing graffiti since I was twelve” or “I’m a sponsored skateboarder and I’ve always felt awkward because I’m attracted to people of the same sex. It’s great to see people like me in a film that I can relate to.”

A girl came up to me when we screened it at Cinevegas and said, “I know these people exist, I’ve just never seen them. I don’t know them, because they’re not out to me. I’m sure that many of my friends are bisexual or gay and you’ve added a face to that.” She was very appreciative for that.

AE: It must feel great to receive a compliment such as that.
JB: Yeah. It’s totally validating (laughs). The work is so hard and when those things happen it’s really wonderful.

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