In the mid-2000s, Rick Canty lost both his mother and their home in Barry, Wales. Evicted, he climbed onto his roof and stayed there for years in protest. Through candid interviews and archive, Rick on the Roof reveals how a quiet neighbourhood becomes a community, throwing street parties and keeping him alive through storms, until Rick is suddenly injured under mysterious circumstances. Today, amidst the UK’s ongoing cost of living crisis, the community he shaped reflects on the legacy of their local hero. This slightly bizarre, emotional documentary explores one man’s fight for his home.
“I grew up with Rick as a local legend in my hometown, Barry,” says director Isaac Atkin-Mayne. “Turning his story into a short documentary with his loved ones has been an honour. It’s about Rick’s resolute and bit mad protest, but it’s also about a search for a kind of community that can feel rare today. Strangers who are willing to support you through your struggle and make it their own. And 20 years later, remember those days as the most meaningful of their lives.”
The documentary was produced through Ffilm Cymru Wales’ Beacons short film scheme by Nan Davies of One Wave Films, who has gone on to co-produce the features Still Pushing Pineapples and Learning to Breathe Under Water, and is currently in production on her latest feature documentary The Last Picture Shop.