The evolution of the cinematic portrayal of the college fraternity experience has been a fascinating one to watch – from the rowdy-boys good time of Animal House, Old School, Neighbors, and countless comedies in between to the more recent portrayals of frats as havens of dubiously consensual sex and brutal hazing rituals. The most striking recent example of the latter was Goat , a piercing portrayal of toxic masculinity which played Sundance 2016 and hit theaters last fall. This year, the festival again hosted a tough drama about pledging and hazing, this time set on the campus of a (fictional) historical black college.
That film, Burning Sands, is the feature debut of Gerald McMurray, with a cast that includes Trevor Jackson, Alfre Woodard, Steve Harris, Tosin Cole, DeRon Horton and Moonlight’s Trevante Rhodes. Well-received in Park City, it was acquired by Netflix (a busy buyer that week; as IndieWire notes, this was one of 14 titles acquired by the streaming service). And now they’ve put out its first trailer:
Burning Sands drops on March 10.