Dreflix: A Passage from Burnt Islands

A Passage from Burnt Islands

In his crusade for literacy, principal Ray Brown enlisted the help of the community and broke through the cycle of illiteracy in a small Newfoundland fishing village. He turned the struggling elementary school into a place where students were eager to learn and instilled in parents a sense of hope for their children's future.

1992

0h 48min

TMDB watch IMDb

Top Billed Cast

Gordon Pinsent
Narrator (voice)

Similar movies

HAND. LINE. COD.
HAND. LINE. COD.
14 Sep 2016
HAND. LINE. COD.
In the coldest waters surrounding Newfoundland's rugged Fogo Island, "people of the fish"—traditional fishers—catch cod live by hand, one at a time, by hook and line. After a 20-year moratorium on North Atlantic cod, the stocks are returning. These fishers are leading a revolution in sustainability, taking their premium product directly to the commercial market for the first time. Travel with them from the early morning hours, spend time on the ocean, and witness the intricacies of a 500-year-old tradition that's making a comeback.
Fish Story
Fish Story
16 Nov 2013
Fish Story
J and Jacky are good friends who attend the same school. J is from a single-parent family, and will be taken care by Jacky’s family whenever his mother has to return to Mainland to renew her visa; such kind of story is not an isolated case. These families have been uprooted for a “better future” in Hong Kong, but is this “future” that the children really long to have? A Chinese saying: “How does one understand the joy of fish, if one is not a fish?” Will the adults really understand what the children want?
Routes: Exploring the British Origins of Newfoundland Outport Furniture Design
Routes: Exploring the British Origins of Newfoundland Outport Furniture Design
01 Jan 1995
Routes: Exploring the British Origins of Newfoundland Outport Furniture Design
A 1995 David Quinton film exploring the British origins of Newfoundland outport furniture design.
The Power Of Music - Darrell's Story
The Power Of Music - Darrell's Story
23 Jun 2022
The Power Of Music - Darrell's Story
Ben Power interviews his father, Darrell Power of Great Big Sea, and asks what it was like on the road, being away from his family, and how being in one of the most memorable Newfoundland bands shaped his life.
Toccata and Fugue
Toccata and Fugue
01 Nov 2022
Toccata and Fugue
Luis, a dancer and classical ballet teacher, experiences a connection between himself and dance despite his old age.
Eye of the Storm
Eye of the Storm
01 Jan 1997
Eye of the Storm
A documentary about Nain, a Labrador Inuit community located near the world's largest nickel and copper deposits. As commercial mining interests prepare to exploit the resources, local residents consider the potential environmental and cultural impact. Meanwhile longstanding Aboriginal land claims are unsettled.
Handcrafted Hopedale
Handcrafted Hopedale
01 Oct 2015
Handcrafted Hopedale
If you want to find world-class artisans, the small northern Labrador community of Hopedale offers you some of the best. Created through the St. John's International Women's Film Festival's FRAMED film education series, in partnership with the Nunatsiavut government, this film focuses on three prominent local craftspeople- two carvers and one traditional sewist.
Vistas: Red Ochre
Vistas: Red Ochre
01 Jan 2009
Vistas: Red Ochre
Combining archival photos with new and found footage, this short film presents a personal, impressionistic rendering of what it's like growing up Mi'kmaq in Newfoundland, while living in a culture of denial. Vistas is a series of 13 short films on nationhood from 13 Indigenous filmmakers from Halifax to Vancouver. It was a collaborative project between the NFB and APTN to bring Indigenous perspectives and stories to an international audience.
Rock School
Rock School
27 Feb 2005
Rock School
It is about a music school in Philadelphia, The Paul Green School of Rock Music, run by Paul Green that teaches kids ages 9 to 17 how to play rock music and be rock stars. Paul Green teaches his students how to play music such as Black Sabbath and Frank Zappa better than anyone expects them to by using a unique style of teaching that includes getting very angry and acting childish.
The Man of a Thousand Songs
The Man of a Thousand Songs
02 Dec 2010
The Man of a Thousand Songs
A feature length documentary about extraordinary Canadian singer songwriter, Ron Hynes... an insightful and entertaining exploration of the creative process, the genesis of song, the meaning of performance and the vulnerability of an artist compelled to bare his soul through his music. The film is comprised of Ron performing his music (distinct and live for the camera), interwoven with very intimate black box 'interviews' with Ron (shot tightly and directly addressed to the camera), in which he discusses the songs and the life that informed them: late nights, dark alleys, marriage, children, divorce, his near death and recovery from drug addiction... and punctuated with back stage moments, insight from the street, and Ron's nephew author Joel Thomas Hynes, taking the role of 'chorus of the people'.
The Hobart Shakespeareans
The Hobart Shakespeareans
06 Sep 2005
The Hobart Shakespeareans
Rafe Esquith, 1992 American Teacher of the Year and National Medal of Arts recipient, teaches 5th-grade children whose parents don't speak English at a school in a dangerous, poor, drug-infested 100% Latino/Asian neighborhood in Los Angeles.
The Truth About Reading
The Truth About Reading
24 Feb 2024
The Truth About Reading
The Truth About Reading looks at the illiteracy problem in America, highlighting people who learned to read as adults, and sharing proposed solutions for working towards a future where every child learns to read proficiently.
Hospital City
Hospital City
15 Sep 2004
Hospital City
As debate in Canada and the world rages over health care, Hospital City offers a moving, human portrait of the people whom the issues touch most closely.
Children in the Classroom
Children in the Classroom
31 Mar 1954
Children in the Classroom
A short documentary about the behaviour of Japanese primary school students.
It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School
It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School
21 May 1996
It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School
Depicts what happens when students K-8 discuss LGBT-related topics in age-appropriate ways. Shot in six public and private schools (in San Francisco and New York City, as well as Madison, Wisconsin, and Cambridge, Massachusetts), It’s Elementary models excellent teaching about family diversity, name-calling, stereotypes, community building, and more.
Elementary
Elementary
29 Jan 2025
Elementary
In the Makarenko public elementary school in the Paris outskirts, children want to learn and to be cheered while teachers know they do not only teach, they also educate. With care, tenacity and efforts, children are trained to become not only responsible citizens but also human beings.
Rise Above the Mark
Rise Above the Mark
12 Dec 2012
Rise Above the Mark
The purpose of Rise Above the Mark, narrated by Peter Coyote, is to educate the general public about the “corporate takeover” of Indiana public schools and what parents, community members and educators can do to protect their local public schools. Legislators are calling the shots and putting public schools in an ever-shrinking box. WLCSC Board of School Trustees and Superintendent of Schools, Rocky Killion, want to secure resources and legislative relief necessary to achieve the school district’s mission of creating a world-class educational system for all children. The school district’s strategic plan will introduce a model of education that puts decision making back into the hands of local communities and public school teachers, rather than leaving it in the hands of legislators and ultimately lining the pockets of corporations.
Regarding Our Father
Regarding Our Father
20 Aug 2011
Regarding Our Father
Gerald S. Doyle was one of the first collectors of Newfoundland folk songs. He was also an avid cinematographer who left a collection of 12 hours of colour film, shot in outport Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1930's, 40's, and 50's.
INSIDE: Narrative of Our Journey
INSIDE: Narrative of Our Journey
03 May 2023
INSIDE: Narrative of Our Journey
A series of indie filmmakers are documented over the course of a few months throughout the production of their passion projects, as they change professionally and personally; moving closer to the lives they wish to live.
Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51
Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51
26 Jan 2022
Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51
Jay Blades, presenter of The Repair Shop, has decided it’s finally time to learn to read. He has been told he has the reading age of an 11-year-old. Throughout his life he has found ways of avoiding the written word, and this film digs deep into how this has shaped him.