Trent Harris

Trent Harris (born 1952) is an independent filmmaker based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He wrote and directed the offbeat 1991 comedy Rubin and Ed, in which Crispin Glover and Howard Hesseman 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 and Crispin Glover as Groovin' Gary in part two and part three, respectively. He also wrote and directed Plan 10 from Outer Space, Delightful Water Universe, and Welcome to the Rubber Room.[6]

For the American football defensive end, see Trent Harris (American football).

Trent Harris
Harris (left) with Mel Halbach, 2007
Born (1952-06-09) June 9, 1952[1]
St. Anthony, Idaho[2]
EducationUniversity of Utah, B.A., M.A.
American Film Institute[3]
OccupationScreenwriter-director
Author
Film instructor
Years active1978–present
Notable work
Rubin & Ed (Columbia Tristar, 1991 [which, over the years, has built a cult following][4])
Plan 10 from Outer Space (1995)
Luna Mesa (2011)

Renowned for enigmatic works receiving an enthusiastic audience in retrospect, including a triptych of 1980 and 1984 dramatized shorts joined with the 1979 documentary short inspiring them: The Beaver Trilogy (2000)

Contributed producing, directing, edited, cinematography, and writing for numerous award-winning documentaries seen on National Geographic and on PBS

StyleExperimental
(e.g.: Vérité;  B-movie ironic;
Underground iconoclastic;
among others)
TelevisionSalt Lake City broadcaster KUTV (writer-director of documentary shorts "Atomic Television," 1978–1981)
Awards2001 Independent/Experimental Film and Video Award
B-Movie Underground & Trash Film Festival's Groundbreakers Lifetime Achievement Award, 2014[5]
Writing career
Notable worksMondo Utah (1996)
The Wild Goose Chronicles (1998)
Websiteechocave.net

Harris has taught film and screenwriting classes at the University of Utah and has worked as a documentarian and television journalist. He has written and directed six feature films, many experimental movies, and more than one hundred documentaries for PBS, National Geographic, NBC and others.[7]

In 2001 The Los Angeles Critics Association awarded Harris, Best Independent Experimental Film, for his feature,The Beaver Trilogy. This film was also listed by the London Guardian as one of ”Fifty Lost Masterpieces” and hit the "Top Ten" list of Art Forum Magazine.[7]

At AFI, Harris twice filmed fictionalized versions of Groovin’ Gary's story, renaming his protagonist Larry Huff. The first starred a virtually-unknown Sean Penn, commuting from the set of Fast Times at Ridgemont High in his Spicoli duds; the next starred Crispin Glover, not yet George McFly of Back to the Future.[8]

Harris has also written three books: The Wild Goose Chronicles, Fate Is A Hairy Rodent, and Mondo Utah.[9]

In 2012, he finished the feature film, Luna Mesa[10] which stars Richard Dutcher and Alex Caldiero.

In 2013, Indiewire proclaimed Harris "the Best Underground Filmmaker You Don’t Know — But Should.[8]

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.[11]

When Harris describes his technique, he compares himself to two directors most film lovers would never mention in the same breath: Michelangelo Antonioni and Ed Wood. [12]

Harris' web series Echo People is a spin-off of Rubin and Ed.[13]

Harris’ films have played at dozens of festivals and museums worldwide with screenings at: Sundance, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the British Film Institute in London, the Edinburgh Film Festival, the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna Austria, Les Laboratories in Aubervilliers France, The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley.[7]

Filmography

Feature Films

References
  1. "Trent Harris Filmography". Rate Your Music. 1952-06-09. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  2. "Mr. Mondo | Cover Story | Salt Lake City | Salt Lake City Weekly". M.cityweekly.net. 2006-12-21. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  3. "Archives West: Trent Harris independent film collection, 1977-2007". Archiveswest.orbiscascade.org. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  4. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/rubin_and_ed/reviews/?type=user
  5. "Trent Harris - Awards - IMDb". M.imdb.com. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  6. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1326761/
  7. https://www.film.utah.edu/people/alumni/item/70-trent-harris
  8. https://www.indiewire.com/2013/05/how-trent-harris-became-the-best-underground-filmmaker-you-dont-know-but-should-38951/
  9. http://www.echocave.net/books.html
  10. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124845/
  11. https://deadline.com/2015/01/bill-hader-beaver-trilogy-part-iv-sundance-trent-harris-1201354077/
  12. https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=58166435&itype=CMSID
  13. .https://saltlakedirt.com/film/f/filmmaker-trent-harris

Sources
Archives
Interview
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