“I think the film world needs updating,” Boiler Room 4:3’s creative director Amar Ediriwira tells Run-Riot. With a new highly creative platform at his disposal, Amar, who is a curator and journalist, is doing his part in updating the modern perception of film.

He has the help of a line-up of big name curators including Elijah Wood, Peaches and Jenn Nkiru as they launch the boldly ambitious multi-genre service called 4:3, which will be available both physically, in unusual spaces, and via the project’s website, to “hold a mirror to internet culture” with a cross examination of film and where it intersects with other media, and how it forms impressions on the general public.

“It turned out looking like a lineup for my dream dinner party,” Amar tells Run Riot of his dream collaborators, who are unearthing content “from some of the most innovative thinkers from around the world”.

4:3 will explore the interconnections between film, fashion, art and music by staging visual and sonic experiences - much like the familiar Boiler Room DJ and live sets which pop-up around the world.

We’ll leave Amar to unpack the project further and reveal details about upcoming projects, including an event at the Tate in London on July 27th which explores the connection between 20th century animation and its accompanying visual music.

Adam Bloodworth: Hi Amar. 4:3 sounds incredibly exciting and ambitious: what would you be happy to see it achieve in its first year?

Amar Ediriwira: I want to see 4:3 continue to speak to audiences in unexpected ways, disrupting media, and in doing so, redefining what a cultural institution can look like in 2018.

Adam: How did you go about choosing your curators, Elijah Wood, Peaches, Jenn Nkiru and Ryuichi Sakamoto?

Amar: It turned out looking like a lineup for my dream dinner party but in reality it happened very organically. For example, I met Elijah Wood a few years ago and shot a video about his vinyl addiction. 4:3 is a bit like crate-digging for film so I knew immediately the project would appeal to him.

Meanwhile, Jenn Nkiru is one of my favourite emerging directors. She just did 2nd unit direction on Beyonce and Jay-Z’s recent Apeshit video so she’s really flying in all sorts of directions. I love the way her mind works; how she approaches her subjects and the art of collaboration.

Of course Peaches and Ryuichi Sakamoto are legendary artists so it’s an honour to be working with them both. The thread between these curators is that they crossover: they are impossible to slot into a box.

Adam: What are the main aims for 4:3?

Amar: - To intersect film, fashion, art and music.
- To expand the ways we experience moving image and sound. Like Boiler Room, 4:3 is an experiential-led brand.
- To be platform-agnostic: 4:3 can exist anywhere.
- To hold up a mirror to Internet culture, platforming short video content as art and putting different strands of culture, “high” and “low”, in dialogue with each other. We omnivorously pull anything from a feature film to an art film to music videos to raw footage to a meme.

Adam: Can you describe your ongoing creative process with those big-name curators?

Amar: There is an ongoing dialogue that is fluid and bespoke to each curator. Sometimes I set a direction, an arena of display, and invite them to participate in it. Other times, they come to me with what they want to platform and I shape how it is executed.

Adam: Do you worry people won't "get" the project like they do the Boiler Room music and events brand?

Amar: The feedback so far has been amazing. Guardian already dubbed us “soon to be cult”. I’m not worried.

Adam: Can you describe some unmissable 4:3 experiences for us newbies?

Amar: Come to our Tate event on 27th July where Simon Reynolds will be delivering a YouTube journey through visual music / avant-garde animation.

Watch one of our underground feature films, like Shinjuku Boys - a film from 1995 about Tokyo’s New Marilyn Club, where (ostensibly) heterosexual cis women clients pay to visit and be romanced by trans men, or non-binary, hosts.

Watch our first 4:3 original: Fleshback - which traces the queer raving scene in Manchester from its wild nights back in the day at the Hacienda through to today’s body-positive club nights in the city’s twilight zones.

Dive into one of our playlists - for example the brilliant choreographer Holly Blakey has just curated a series for us titled ‘In Everything is Choreography’ which spans from dance film Blush to an advert by Robert Downey Sr to footage of the Senegalese football team training during this year’s World Cup.



Adam: What stone is still left unturned in the film sense? Is there a gem you're waiting to find?

Amar: Unearthing unseen archival film or raw footage is definitely exhilarating. But more pressingly, I think the film world needs updating. It needs to be injected with youth and Internet culture.

Adam: What are your personal passions?

Amar: I enjoy snooping around other people’s houses and gossiping.

Adam: What are the  biggest challenges underground filmmakers face, and what would be your advice to them to help them overcome them?

Amar: The biggest thing is that the Internet has turned everyone into a creator. Which is both good and bad. Good because it’s democratising; bad because it makes it harder to cut through the noise. Distribution is everything. My advice would be to think carefully about how you communicate your work when it’s finished. Treat every project uniquely and build up to things in a way that feels natural.



Adam: Is there a standout physical location or venue you'd like to collaborate with on the 4:3 project?

Amar: A colleague, Gennaro Leone, showed me Brunel Museum’s new space which is just amazing. A Grade II listed shaft that’s been transformed into a performance space with a freestanding, cantilevered staircase. I’d like to do something there. I’d also like to do something in a swimming pool. Or a school hall. Or anywhere that feels institutional. It’s exciting to disrupt spaces that are typically tied to one sort of activity with something wildly different. I’ve always wanted to screen porn in a church - I’m not sure if that’s allowed but I like the idea anyway.

@amarediriwira

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4:3 Presents: Simon Reynolds On Visual Music
as part of Uniqlo Tate Lates
Friday 27 July, 18.00–22.00
at Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG
More info: tate.org.uk

Simon Reynolds takes us on a YouTube journey through a selection of 20th century experimental animation films exploring the concept of visual music. Sample works by the pioneers of abstract animation, who often collaborated with musique concrete and electronic composers or made their own soundtracks to their films. Presented by 4:3, Boiler Room’s platform for underground film.

*Please note this screening requires a free ticket. Free tickets will be available from 17.00 on the day at the Level 0 Ticket Desk on a first come, first served basis.