Céline Roustan
In 2006, Rick Canty lost the house he had shared with his late mother. In protest, he climbed up to the roof and didn’t leave for years, becoming the talk of the town in Barry, Wales. With Rick on the Roof, director Isaac Atkin-Mayne recounts Canty’s story and how his act of resistance impacted the community, turning him into a local legend whose influence still resonates nearly twenty years later.
“Everyone back home knows the name ‘Rick on the Roof’”
Having grown up in Barry himself, Atkin-Mayne had witnessed events unfold firsthand. “Everyone back home knows the name ‘Rick on the Roof,’” he explains. Although Canty’s story was almost two decades old, the filmmaker confessed that the current rising cost of living, paired with the ongoing housing crisis, made him think about the rooftop protest. “Rick’s story felt like it had something new to say”, he adds, explaining the genesis of the project. At its core, the story is about home and community – themes that remain topical today – allowing Atkin-Mayne to craft a film that creates a bridge between past and present through Canty’s experience.
The film has an inviting quality, transporting viewers to Barry and immersing us in its community. Atkin-Mayne’s approach – mixing archival footage, another filmmaker’s work and reenactments – captures the energy of the town when Canty started occupying the roof. In doing so, he successfully brings to the screen “the humour, warmth and grit that’s always been there in Barry”, making the film an engaging watch. Visually, DP Lucas Troadec adopts an aesthetic that reinforces the story’s legendary quality, turning Canty into a hero that still feels relevant today.
“I wanted to preserve the oral history of this tale before it disappears, but also to remind us what it looks like when people stand together,” director Atkin-Mayne on the aims for his short
In addition to its light and fun tone, which stems from the absurd premise of a man occupying a rooftop and the community’s supports, the film possesses notable depth. Having people who were actually there to share their memory of Canty’s story in the reenactments deepens the emotional resonance, grounding the story in its authenticity and creating a potent link between the past and the present. Editor Danny Robertson finds the perfect balance in capturing both eras and balancing the emotional and humorous tones, allowing each element to complement rather than compete with the others.
Atkin-Mayne is developing a new short documentary about late French speleologist Véronique Le Guen, who he describes as “a courageous woman largely forgotten by history and a journey through love, isolation and madness”.