Insurgent Projects

Synopsis
What does an addict need to change to kick addiction? According to Westover Treatment Centre, just one thing—everything. Come Clean follows addicts through 19-days of in-treatment and for 18 months following release as they attempt to break the habits that have delivered them to the brink of ruin.

Documentary 89 minutes.
Written, produced, and directed by Derreck Roemer and Neil Graham
First Broadcast: January 2022
Broadcasters: TVO
Language: English

2015 Canadian Screen Awards
Nominee: Best Documentary Program

“...you won’t want to miss it.” – Now Magazine
“A story this well made deserves to be savored – here is Canadiana at its best.” ★★★★ – James Bawden

Synopsis
Howard Gibbs’s 80-year-old gas station needs new tanks or the inspectors will shut him down. Nearing retirement, he’s desperate to lure his daughter back from the city to help carry on the family legacy. Next-door, things seem better. A couple who moved from the city are set to open an upscale B&B. But what would lead them to build here, along a desolate stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway? Once the main road between Toronto, Canada’s largest city, and Ottawa, the nation’s capital, this highway is now a black ribbon of failed businesses and derelict properties. What happened? And why, despite the hardship, do some think it can be turned around?

Documentary 58/74 minutes.
Written, produced, directed Derreck Roemer and Neil Graham
First Broadcast: April 2014
Broadcasters: TVO
Language: English

2008 Gemini Awards
Winner: Best Direction in a Documentary Series – Derreck Roemer, Neil Graham

“A bare-bones elegy for a below-the-radar class” NNNN – Now Magazine
“A terrifically astute, conscientious and engaged work... painfully incisive” – Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

Synopsis
When aggressive developers buy a flophouse hotel to turn it into an artscentric hot spot, long-time staff and residents begin a five-year struggle to survive. This intimate portrait of the effects of urban renewal upon the poor, reveals the unintentional roles we often play in the process of gentrification.

Documentary 58/65 minutes
Written, produced, directed and filmed by Derreck Roemer and Neil Graham
First Broadcast: May 2007
Broadcasters: TVO, Bravo! Canada, YES Israel
Language: English