Trent Harris (born 1952) is an independent filmmaker based in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. In 2013,

Indiewire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

proclaimed Harris "The Best Underground Filmmaker You Don’t Know — But Should." Harris’ films have played at dozens of festivals and museums worldwide with screenings at

Sundance A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony. Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to: Places ;Canada *Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood *Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town ;United States * Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated place ...

, the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

, the British Film Institute in London, the

Edinburgh Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

, the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna Austria, Les Laboratories in Aubervilliers France, The

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a multi-disciplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, natio ...

in San Francisco and the

Pacific Film Archive The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...

in Berkeley.

Career

Harris taught film and screenwriting classes at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

and worked as a documentarian and television journalist. He wrote and directed six feature films, many experimental movies, and more than one-hundred documentaries for PBS, National Geographic, NBC, and others. In 1991, he wrote and directed the comedy ''

Rubin and Ed ''Rubin & Ed'' is a 1991 independent buddy comedy film written and directed by Trent Harris. It stars Crispin Glover and Howard Hesseman as an unlikely pairing on a road trip through the Utah desert. Plot Rubin Farr is an eccentric, unsociable ...

'', in which

Crispin Glover Crispin Hellion Glover (born April 20, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for portraying eccentric characters on screen, such as George McFly in ''Back to the Future'' (1985), Layne in ''River's Edge'' (1986), Andy Warhol in ''The Doors'' ...

and

Howard Hesseman Howard Hesseman (February 27, 1940 – January 29, 2022) was an American actor known for his television roles as burned-out disc jockey Dr. Johnny Fever on ''WKRP in Cincinnati'', and the lead role of history teacher Charlie Moore on ''Head of ...

wander the desert looking for a suitable place to bury a frozen cat. In 2001 he released '' The Beaver Trilogy'', a compilation film that documents his obsession with a man called Groovin' Gary (Richard Griffiths). The Beaver Trilogy features

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

and

as Groovin' Gary in part two and part three, respectively. The Los Angeles Critics Association awarded Harris "Best Independent Experimental Film," was listed by the London Guardian as one of ”Fifty Lost Masterpieces,” and hit the "Top Ten" list of Art Forum Magazine. At AFI, Harris twice filmed fictionalized versions of Groovin’ Gary's story, renaming his protagonist Larry Huff. In 2012, he finished the feature film, ''Luna Mesa'' which stars

Richard Dutcher Richard Alan Dutcher (born 1964)Click "Biography" in the bottom-left of this web site: is an American independent filmmaker who produces, writes, directs, edits, and frequently stars in his films. After making '' God's Army'', a successful 2000 ...

and

Alex Caldiero Alissandru Francesco "Alex" Caldiero (born 1949) is a poet, and intermedia. Life Caldiero was born in the ancient town of Licodia Eubea, near Catania, Sicily, in 1949. He immigrated to the United States at age nine and was raised in Manhattan a ...

. In 2015, he was the subject of a documentary called ''Beaver Trilogy Part IV'', narrated by Bill Hader, which examined his ''The Beaver Trilogy'' film and his relationship with its star, Richard Griffiths. Harris' web series ''Echo People'' is a spin-off of ''

.'' Harris has written three books: ''The Wild Goose Chronicles'', ''Fate Is A Hairy Rodent'', and ''Mondo Utah''.

Filmmaking Style

When Harris describes his technique, he compares himself to two directors most film lovers would never mention in the same breath:

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...

and

Ed Wood Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and pulp novel author. In the 1950s, Wood directed several low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult cla ...

Filmography

Feature films

* ''

'' (1991) * ''

Plan 10 from Outer Space ''Plan 10 from Outer Space'' is a 1994 low budget science fiction film starring Karen Black as Nehor and written and directed by Trent Harris. The film is a surreal satire of Mormon theology. The film has no connection to '' Plan 9 from Outer S ...

'' (1994) * '' The Beaver Trilogy'' (2001) * ''Delightful Water Universe'' (2008) * ''Luna Mesa'' (2012) * ''Welcome to the Rubber Room'' (2017)

References

Sources

External links

Trent Harris Films, Official website

Luna Mesa (hosts films)

Vlog
* ; Archives * ; Interview
Plum TV Telluride Interviews Trent Harris at Sundance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Trent American film directors Living people Artists from Salt Lake City 1952 births