One Wave Films

A melancholic yet heartfelt story of the former singer of pop band Black Lace and his journey on the road with his aging mother and his partner, as he aims for a comeback.

For over forty years, Ümit has kept the flame of celluloid alive in a small East London shop stacked floor to ceiling with reels, posters, and stories. He is 65, a proud Cypriot Cockney, a projectionist, and one of the last guardians of analogue film in the UK. To step inside his shop is to step into another time. Now that space is under threat. Rising costs and relentless development are closing in. What once felt eternal now feels fragile. So we decided to do something bold, hopeful, and cinematic. This is The Last Picture Shop. A funny, tender, and unpredictable journey about friendship, obsession, and what we choose to fight for. At its heart lies a simple question. How far would you go to save the thing you love?

In the mid-2000s, Rick Canty lost his mother and their home in Barry, Wales. Evicted, he climbed onto his roof in protest, remaining there for years. Rick on the Roof uses candid interviews and archive to reveal how his quiet neighbourhood transformed into a thriving community. Neighbours threw street parties and rallied around Rick through storms, until he was injured under mysterious circumstances. Amidst the backdrop of today’s cost of living crisis, the town reflects on Rick’s extraordinary defiance. This bittersweet documentary tells the peculiar story of one man on a roof who inspired and united a working-class Welsh community.