Film about Welsh rooftop protester features on prestigious website

Gosia Buzzanca

A film about Rick Canty, a man who protested eviction by living on the roof of his house for years, is now being shown on a prestigious Short of The Week website.

“Rick on the Roof”, directed by Isaac Akin-Mayne, who grew up in Barry surrounded by the legend of Canty, is now available to watch for free worldwide.

In the mid-2000s, Rick Canty lost both his mother and their home. Facing eviction, he climbed onto his roof and stayed there for years in protest.

In the documentary, through candid interviews and archive, Akin-Mayne reveals how a quiet neighbourhood became a community, throwing street parties and keeping him alive through storms.

“I always felt like I wanted to make a film about Rick,” the Welsh director tells me. “So I was honoured to gain trust of him and the family.

“Unfortunately Rick had passed away during the process of making the film so I will never know what he would think of it,” he says.

The documentary returns to the current timeline, where amidst the UK’s ongoing cost of living crisis, the community Rick Canty shaped reflects on the legacy of their local hero. This slightly bizarre, emotional documentary explores one man’s fight for his home.

“This is a homegrown film about collective memory, retracing Rick’s story through the voices of those closest to him as a kind of visualised oral history.

“Nan Davies, our incredible 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,” Isaac concludes in his director statement.

The film was shown at Folkestone Documentary Festival and Norwich Film Festival in November to widespread acclaim and the director is hoping it will be selected for further screenings.

“I’d also like to organise a celebration of Rick’s life this year, tied to a film screening,

“He was an incredible, strong character who believed in his cause. It’s people like Rick who make things happen in the world and that has to be celebrated,” Akin-Mayne said.

“Rick on the Roof” is available to watch now.