{{Short description|American filmmaker (born 1952)}} {{about||the American football defensive end|Trent Harris (American football)|the baseball player|Trent Harris (baseball)}}

{{Infobox person | name = Trent Harris | image = Trent Harris with Mel Halbach.jpg | alt = | caption = Harris (left) with Mel Halbach, 2007 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|06|09}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rateyourmusic.com/films/trent_harris |title=Trent Harris Filmography |publisher=Rate Your Music |date=1952-06-09 |accessdate=2018-04-09}}</ref> | birth_place = St. Anthony, Idaho, U.S.<ref name="cityweekly1">{{cite web|url=https://m.cityweekly.net/utah/mr-mondo/Content?oid=2128863 |title=Mr. Mondo &#124; Cover Story &#124; Salt Lake City |work=Salt Lake City Weekly |date=2006-12-21 |accessdate=2018-04-09}}</ref> | education = {{Plainlist| *University of Utah, B.A., M.A. *American Film Institute<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv49707 |title=Archives West: Trent Harris independent film collection, 1977-2007 |publisher=Archiveswest.orbiscascade.org |date= |accessdate=2018-04-09}}</ref> }} | occupation = {{hlist|Screenwriter-director|author|film instructor}} | years_active = 1978&ndash; present | notable_works = {{ubl|Rubin & Ed (1991)|Plan 10 from Outer Space (1995)|Luna Mesa (2011)|The Beaver Trilogy (2000)}} | style = Experimental<br />(e.g.: Vérité; &nbsp;B-movie ironic;<br />Underground iconoclastic;<br />among others) | television = Salt Lake City broadcaster KUTV (writer-director of documentary shorts "Atomic Television," 1978&ndash;1981) | awards = 2001 Independent/Experimental Film and Video Award<br />B-Movie Underground & Trash Film Festival's Groundbreakers Lifetime Achievement Award, 2014<ref>{{cite web|url=https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0365408/awards |title=Trent Harris - Awards |publisher=IMDb |accessdate=2018-04-09}}</ref> | website = {{URL|echocave.net}} }}

'''Trent Harris''' (born June 9, 1952) is an American filmmaker based in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2013, IndieWire proclaimed Harris "The Best Underground Filmmaker You Don’t Know — But Should."<ref name="indiewire.com">{{cite web |title=How Trent Harris Became the Best Underground Filmmaker You Don't Know — But Should |publisher=IndieWire |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2013/05/how-trent-harris-became-the-best-underground-filmmaker-you-dont-know-but-should-38951/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624075258/http://www.indiewire.com/2013/05/how-trent-harris-became-the-best-underground-filmmaker-you-dont-know-but-should-38951 |archive-date=2017-06-24}}</ref>

Harris' films have been featured at various festivals and museums worldwide, including renowned venues like Sundance, the 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.<ref name="film.utah.edu">{{Cite web |publisher=Department of Film and Media Arts, University of Utah |title=Trent Harris |url=https://www.film.utah.edu/people/alumni/item/70-trent-harris}}</ref>

== Career == Harris taught film and screenwriting classes at the University of Utah 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.<ref name="film.utah.edu" />

In 1991, he wrote and directed the 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. 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.<ref name="film.utah.edu" /> 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''<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 September 2014 |title=Luna Mesa (2011) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124845/ |website=IMDb}}</ref> which stars Richard Dutcher and Alex Caldiero.

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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 January 2015 |title=Bill Hader to Narrate Cult Film Documentary 'Beaver Trilogy Part IV' – Sundance |url=https://deadline.com/2015/01/bill-hader-beaver-trilogy-part-iv-sundance-trent-harris-1201354077/}}</ref>

Harris' web series ''Echo People'' is a spin-off of ''Rubin and Ed.''<ref>{{cite web |title=TV & Film |url=https://saltlakedirt.com/film/f/filmmaker-trent-harris |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131190234/https://saltlakedirt.com/film/f/filmmaker-trent-harris |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-01-31 }}</ref>

Harris has written three books: ''The Wild Goose Chronicles'', ''Fate Is A Hairy Rodent'', and ''Mondo Utah''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trent Harris' Books |url=http://www.echocave.net/books.html}}</ref>

== Filmmaking Style == Harris compares his style to two directors, Michelangelo Antonioni and Ed Wood.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sean P. Means: Utah filmmaker Trent Harris returns with experimental 'Luna Mesa' - the Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=58166435&itype=CMSID}}</ref>

== Filmography ==

=== Feature films === * ''Rubin and Ed'' (1991) * ''Plan 10 from Outer Space'' (1994) * ''The Beaver Trilogy'' (2000) * ''The Cement Ball of Earth, Heaven, and Hell'' (2003) * ''Delightful Water Universe'' (2008) * ''The Wild Goose Chronicles'' (2009) * ''Luna Mesa'' (2011) * ''Welcome to the Rubber Room'' (2017) * ''Echo People'' (2021)

=== Short films === *''Subway'' (1975) *''The Beaver Kid'' (1979) *''The Beaver Kid 2'' (1981) *''The Orkly Kid'' (1985) *''Burning Man'' (1997)

== References == {{reflist}}

== Sources == * {{cite journal |url= http://filmmakermagazine.com/69928-on-being-a-cult-filmmaker-an-interview-with-trent-harris |title= On Being a Cult Filmmaker: An Interview with Trent Harris |first= Randy |last= Astle |date= May 1, 2013 |journal= Filmmaker }}

== External links == * [http://www.echocave.net/ Trent Harris Films, Official website] * [http://lunamesamovie.com/ Luna Mesa (hosts films)] * [http://www.flingading.com/ Vlog] * [https://collections.lib.utah.edu/search?facet_setname_s=uum_thifc Trent Harris Independent Film Collection] * {{IMDb name|0365408}} ; Archives * {{Citation|url = http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv49707|title = Trent Harris independent film collection A0832|work = Special Collections and Archives|series = University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library, Salt Lake City|postscript = <small>(Contains over 300 audiovisual pieces, within 35mm, 16mm, & 8mm film; U-matic, Betacam, VHS, DVCPro, Mini DV, Hi-8 videocassette; DVD, Blu-ray, & compact disc formats)</small>}} ; Interview * [http://telluride.plumtv.com/stories/meet_documentary_filmmaker_trent_harris, Plum TV Telluride Interviews Trent Harris at Sundance]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Trent}} Category:Film directors from Idaho Category:Living people Category:Artists from Salt Lake City Category:1952 births