Shifty

Shifty is a young man selling crack in London. His work is orderly, his customers are known to him, and his family has no idea what he does. Years ago his closest friend Chris walked out without a word; one day he comes back. The film follows that day: within twenty-four hours Shifty's whole arrangement falls apart. A customer goes out of control, a rival dealer sets a trap, his family finds out. It is Eran Creevy's first film. It was shot on a very small budget in a very short time, and came out of a low-budget support scheme in Britain. Riz Ahmed plays Shifty in one of his first leading parts; Daniel Mays plays his friend Chris. The telling neither romanticises the dealer nor lectures him; what it is really interested in is how the distance between two friends opened up. Eighty-five minutes, and it never turns heavy.