Shifty

The film charts an action packed 24 hours in the life of a young crack cocaine dealer, Shifty, played by Riz Ahmed, living on the outskirts of London. The sudden return home of his best friend sets in motion a chain of events that see Shifty’s life quickly spiral out of control. Stalked by a customer desperate to score at all costs, and with his family about to turn their back on him for good, Shifty must out-smart a rival drug dealer intent on stitching him up. As his long time friend Chris, played by Daniel Mays (Atonement, Vera Drake, All or Nothing), confronts the dark past he left behind him, Shifty must face up to the various choices that’s open to him.

Based on the writer-director Eran Creevy’s teenage experiences, and boasting some convincing performances from a cast of rising stars. Shifty (2008) was funded by Film London’s Microwave scheme, and delivered after a shooting schedule of just 18 days. It is a terrific example of a film that manages to do a great deal with very little, an energetic and engaged slice of social realism that boasts a solid backbone of humour running throughout its 86 minute running time.