LUNA MESA with THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD (1985)
Dir. Trent Harris, 2011
USA, 60 min.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 3 – 5:00 PM New York City Premiere!
FRIDAY, AUGUST 15 – 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21 – 10:00 PM
Trent Harris’ latest film LUNA MESA is his take on a travelogue that harkens back to the early booming days of mini-dv experimental features. With a mostly aimless and wandering narrative, the film follows along a photographer who is having a relationship with a videographer and then on one day, he is found shot dead in his hotel room in Cambodia. She discovers a mysterious notebook that is filled with random symbols and very cryptic messages and travels around the world to find out who murdered him. Harris’ mystery is void of his previously trademarked humor but instead flirts with unconventional convictions and focuses on jilted dialogue to round out his outsider outlook.
An added bonus to the screenings of LUNA MESA is an early little seen documentary from Trent Harris called THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD (20 min.) which interviews Joyce McKinney, a woman who was accused of kidnapping and raping a Mormon in London which became the subject of Errol Morris’ popular documentary TABLOID.
THE BEAVER TRILOGY
Dir. Trent Harris, 1979, 1981, and 1985.
USA, 83 min.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 8 – 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, AUGUST 14 – 7:30 PM
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20 – 7:30 PM
MONDAY, AUGUST 25 – 7:30 PM
Perhaps one of the cornerstones of the comedy cult canon, THE BEAVER TRILOGY is a series of three shorts about a man named Groovin’ Gary. The first short is a documentary; filmmaker Trent Harris runs into the eccentric Groovin’ Gary by chance in a parking lot. After a series of relentless phone calls, Trent is convinced to go to a talent show at a high school where Groovin’ Gary will be performing in drag as Olivia Newton John. With performances from teenagers interspersed with this weirdo, the audience is predictably shocked and appalled by Gary’s talent.
The second short is a 100 dollar budgeted narrative remake with Sean Penn as Groovin’ Larry and is essentially a lo-fi parody of the original subject matter. The final vignette sees Crispin Glover in the starring role and is more robust, glossy, and thoughtful. It is also a slightly more delirious attempt at the narrative (perhaps taking more fictionalized liberties) with a turn to comedic melodrama. Each segment shows an evolution of the director’s perspective and respect for the subject while being delivered with warped humor and an oddly poignant finale.
PLAN 10 FROM OUTERSPACE
Dir. Trent Harris, 1995
USA, 80 min.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 8 – 10:00 PM
TUESDAY, AUGUST 12 – 10:00 PM
SUNDAY, AUGUST 17 – 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, AUGUST 26 – 10:00 PM
Perhaps set in a universe shared with Adventures of Pete and Pete or Pee Wee’s Big Adventure but shades dirtier and a 100% more Mormon, PLAN 10 FROM OUTERSPACE is Trent Harris’ madcap follow-up to his cult classic RUBIN AND ED. A female writer unearths a plague that might hold the secrets that ties the early Mormons with an alien race whose ultimate plan is for world domination. Filled to the brim with a cast of quirky outlandish characters, PLAN 10 FROM OUTERSPACE is a frantic conspiracy religious satire and remains true to Harris’ utter nonsense canon.