
The Ontological Cowboy
Directed by
France, USA
2005
16 min
- English
Drama, Experimental, Short
Theatre is about sex. At least according to Richard Foreman, the father of the Ontological Hysterical Theatre. THE ONTOLOGICAL COWBOY documents Foreman’s invocation of the ‘manifest destiny’ of avant-garde theatre, King Cowboy Rufus strolling down San Juan Hill with a sigh, waving his handkerchief. Foreman plays himself and the cast pantomimes his preoccupations. If the cast and crew suffer alike, it is all for a good cause: the violent rebirth of American theatre, with Foreman as its midwife.
Credits
- Cast
- Richard Foreman
- Juliana Francis
- Tom Ryder Smith and JaySmith
- Production
- MARIE LOSIER

Marie Losier
France
Just shoot three-minute snippets of film that you collage together. And that's the way I've always worked
Marie Losier, born in France in 1972, is a filmmaker and curator working in New York. First, she studied literature at the University of Nanterre (France) and then Fine Arts in New York City. She has made a number of film portraits on avant-garde directors, musicians and composers such as Mike and George Kuchar, Guy Maddin, Richard Foreman, Tony Conrad and Genesis P-Orridge. Whimsical, poetic, dreamlike and unconventional, her films explore the life and work of these artists. Her films are regularly shown at prestigious art and film festivals and museums. Her first feature film is a portrait of the musical genius Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and her band Psychic TV. The work in progress was presented in 2009 at The Centre George Pompidou in April to open “Hors Pistes”, as well as at the Cinemathèque Francaise in Paris in September. In 2011 the completed result of this project, THE BALLAD OF GENESIS AND LADY JAYE, premiered in Berlinale Forum, winning the Teddy Award for Best Documentary and the Calligari Film Prize. Her latest short documentary FELIX IN WONDERLAND (2019) was selected in the Fuori Concorso section at Locarno FF.
Selected Filmography
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Felix in Wonderland
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Cassandro the Exotico!
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Here in Lisbon - Episodes of a City
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L'Oiseau de la Nuit
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Alan Vega: Just a Million Dreams
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Bim, Bam, Boom, las Luchas Morenas
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The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye
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Eat My Makeup!
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Cet air la
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Slap the Gondola!
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Papal Broken-Dance
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Tony Conrad: DreaMinimalist
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Manuelle Labor
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Flying Saucey!
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Electrocute Your Stars
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Lunch Break on the Xerox Machine
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The Touch Retouched