The Taste of Sand (Kumun Tadı) (translated)

Kumun Tadı (Seaburners) is an 89-minute Turkish drama film directed by Melisa Önel, released on November 21, 2014. The story follows Hamit, who shuttles between Istanbul's dangerous neighborhoods and a poor border town on the Black Sea coast, hauling coal in his truck for Ali, a coal merchant who also smuggles people, and bringing back illegal migrants on the return trip.

His only refuge from this trapped existence is Denise, a botanist who has come from abroad for a research project; the two meet secretly at night in a secluded hut by the sea. When a new group of refugees arrives and becomes stranded in town, tensions rise and their fragile bond begins to unravel. Weaving themes of migration and borders into an intimate relationship story, the film stars Timuçin Esen, Mira Furlan, Ahmet Rıfat Şungar, Hakan Karsak and Selen Uçer.