''Burning Sands'' is a 2017 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

, directed by Gerard McMurray, from a screenplay by McMurray and Christine Berg. It stars Trevor Jackson,

Alfre Woodard Alfre Woodard ( ; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. Known for portraying strong-willed and dignified roles on stage and screen, she has received various accolades, including four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and three Scree ...

, Steve Harris, Tosin Cole, DeRon Horton and

Trevante Rhodes Trevante Nemour Rhodes (born February 10, 1990) is an American actor. He won several accolades and achieved recognition in 2016 for his performance as "Black" (Adult Chiron) in the Academy Award-winning film ''Moonlight''. He has since starred ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

on January 24, 2017, before being released on March 10, 2017, by

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Plot

Five young men pledge Lambda Lambda Phi Fraternity at a historically Black institution, Frederick Douglass University. Zurich leads the pledge class as they endure hazing on campus and at the fraternity house. Zurich balances his time in class with English professor Hughes and his new fraternity life of parties, sorority girls, and dating. The pledge class learns the fraternity's brotherhood mottos and bonds together through the mental and physical hazing. Dean Richardson, a Lambda Lambda Phi alumnus, holds himself out as an example of the fraternity system and extols its virtues. He makes himself available to be told of pledge abuse but does not take action to break the fraternity code of silence and secrecy. One night, the hazing goes too far and a big brother advises the pledge class to drop off a seriously injured pledge, Frank, at the emergency room but to avoid the cameras. Despite this advice, the pledges wait together at the hospital for news of Frank's fate. A doctor later tells them that Frank died of a ruptured aorta. Zurich takes out his cell phone and calls his dad, realizing why his father never joined the fraternity, and the movie ends.

Cast

* Trevor Jackson as Zurich *

as Professor Hughes * Steve Harris as Dean Richardson * Tosin Cole as Frank * DeRon Horton as Earnest (Square) * Dominique Mari as Tiffany * Mitchell Edwards as Stephon * Jeremy Rudd as Christopher * Christian Robinson as Big Country *

as Fernander * Malik Bazille as Dwight * Octavius J Johnson as Ron * Rotimi Akinosho as Edwin * Serayah as Angel * Nafessa Williams as Toya *

Imani Hakim Imani Hakim (born August 12, 1993) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Tonya Rock on the UPN/ CW sitcom ''Everybody Hates Chris'' as well as portraying Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas in the 2014 Lifetime original mo ...

as Rochon *

Adriyan Rae Adriyan Rae is an American actress known for her role as Elida in the short-lived Syfy drama '' Vagrant Queen'' and as Gianna Mackey in the NBC drama '' Chicago Fire''. Early life and education Rae was born on October 7, 1994, in Seaford, Delaw ...

as Candy * Racquel Bianca John as Joy * Chiké Okonkwo as Breyton

Production

In January 2016, it was announced Gerard McMurray would direct the film, from a screenplay by himself and Christine Berg, while Stephanie Allain,

Jason Michael Berman Jason Michael Berman is an American film producer and executive. He serves as the President and Founder of A/Vantage Pictures and previously served as the President of Mandalay Pictures, where he is responsible for developing and structuring fin ...

of Mandalay Pictures,

Reginald Hudlin Reginald Alan Hudlin (born December 15, 1961) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer. Along with his older brother Warrington Hudlin, he is known as one of the Hudlin Brothers. From 2005 to 2008, Hudlin was President of Entertainmen ...

and Shawn Knapp will serve as producers on the film alongside

. In January 2017,

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

boarded the film as an executive producer and will contribute an original song to the film.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on January 24, 2017. It was released on March 10, 2017, by

Reception

''Burning Sands'' received positive reviews from film critics. It currently holds an 88% approval rating on review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average rating of 63 out of 100, based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt5826432 2017 films 2017 independent films American drama films Films about fraternities and sororities Films shot in Virginia English-language drama films Mandalay Pictures films Netflix original films 2017 directorial debut films Films about hazing 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language independent films