Burning Sands

Burning Sands follows Zurich, a college student at Frederick Douglass University who is accepted into a prestigious fraternity. Joining means enduring Hell Week, the initiation period in which pledges are subjected to increasingly violent hazing. As the pressure builds, Zurich finds himself weighing the fraternity's code of silence against the harm being done to the men around him, a choice that also draws in his relationships with his girlfriend and a classmate, and with a professor who sees leadership potential in him.

The drama was directed by Gerard McMurray, who wrote the screenplay with Christine Berg. It was McMurray's first feature as director, followed by The First Purge in 2018. Trevor Jackson plays Zurich, with Alfre Woodard as Professor Hughes, Steve Harris as Dean Richardson, Tosin Cole as Frank, DeRon Horton as Square and Trevante Rhodes as Fernander.

Burning Sands runs 105 minutes and was released in January 2017. On TMDB it holds a rating of 5.8 out of 10 from 137 votes.