OBEY

Obey is set in London during the 2011 riots and focuses on Leon (Marcus Rutherford), a young mixed-race man who hangs out with his delinquent pals but chooses to stay on the straight-and-narrow path himself. Not that his life is easy: he has no job and little real prospect of getting one. He lives with an alcoholic single mother Chelsea (T’Nia Miller) who gets physically abused by her boyfriend Chris (James Atwell). His only way of letting off steam is to visit the local boxing gym.

One evening, while hanging out with his friends, he visits a party at a local squat. While there, he attracts the attention of Twiggy (Sophie Kennedy Clark), a girl who lives upstairs. Once she begins flirting with Leon, however, another partygoer wrongfully accuses him of stealing his mobile phone. This kicks off a fight and results in him fleeing from the house with the rest of his group. Once outside, one of his friends admits to stealing the phone for himself. Leon gets angry and forcibly retrieves it from him in order to return it the next day. This results in him striking up a friendship with Twiggy and becoming involved in the relaxed, unconventional lifestyle that she participates in with her boyfriend Anton (Sam Gittins).

In the background, racial tensions begin to rise after Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old man, is shot dead by police. This results in a number of riots taking place across the city of London. While Leon’s friends want to partí ipate in the cycle of violence, he prefers to stay out of it. However, a number of circumstances occur which ultimately cause him to give up. 

(adapted from Cinema's Fringes webpage)