SYNOPSIS
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. In 2023, while making the film, Rick passes away, and his community reflects on the legacy of their local hero. This slightly bizarre, emotional documentary explores one man’s fight for his home amidst the UK’s ongoing cost of living crisis.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
I grew up with Rick as a local legend in my hometown, Barry. Turning his story into a short documentary with his loved ones has been an honour. It's about Rick's resolute and slightly bizarre 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.
When Rick passed away, it was devastating. This project was always about memory, but it evolved into an act of preserving Rick's legacy, retracing his story through the voices of those closest to him as a kind of oral history — coupled onscreen with a treasure trove of archive and reenactment.
This film has been a homegrown production and a love letter to the town Rick and I loved. Nan (our producer) and I have worked closely with Rick’s family and loved ones, who have been incredibly generous. Many of the people you see onscreen for reenactment are our own families, our crew was local, and a lot of the archive came from Steven, who filmed Rick as a budding Barry-based filmmaker 20 years ago and came onto the project to finish what he started.
Barry, like much of the UK, is facing a stark rising cost of living that’s quietly affecting people in many different ways. Our goal in remembering Rick is to to renew a sense of togetherness through hardship and remind ourselves that we’re never alone. While making Rick on the Roof, both on and off camera, we’ve gone some way to rebuild the community Rick started all those years ago. And I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who’s played a part.
-Isaac
STILLS
CREDITS
Isaac Atkin-Mayne
Produced by
Nan Davies
Featuring
Penny Richards
Ruth Schembri
Dougy Jones
Richard Gurner
Director of Photography
Lucas Troadec
Editor
Danny Robertson
Music
Tom Rees
Exec Producers For Ffilm Cymru
Jude Lister
Jessica Cobham-Dineen
Dafydd Weeks
Sam Wiltshire
Gaffer
Oliver Mitchell
Shadow Director
Steven Toozer
Production Trainee
Temilorun Enemuwe
Driver
Brian Mayne
Camera Equipment
Camera One
Lighting Equipment
Firebug
Props
Celtic Hire
Ruth Mayne
Tyser
Post Production
Onsight
Colourist
Andy Lee
Online Editor
Andrew Fisun
Post Production Supervisor
Cem Kilinchan
Sound Mix
Ines Adriana
Archive
BBC Wales licenced by Getty Images
ITV Wales
Steven Toozer
Ade Ricketts
Chris Thomas
Jac Osbourne
Beth Atkin-Mayne
Harri Grace
Beth Ames
Daisy Mayne
Morgan Mayne
Wendy Williams
Christopher Grace
Jay Bedwani
Maya
Sarah Collier
The Richards Family
The Schembri Family
Sian Davies
Owain Meredith
Made with the support of
Ffilm Cymru Wales, BFI NETWORK with the support of the National Lottery
A One Wave Films Production
© One Wave Films Ltd MMXXIV
BEHIND-THE-SCENES