Acting
Bob Cowan, also known as Robert Cowan, was a part of the New York underground film scene of the ’60s where he worked largely as an actor. He also served on the board of the Filmmakers’ Coop.
Seadrift is based on a story The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft, and was shot partially in Marblehead Mass. Each section represents a synthesis of the various aspects and moods of the story. The sum total of the fragments expresses the atmosphere of the whole.
A desperate, married woman meets a mysterious man who she blatantly desires. Through some twists and turns, things do not go over as well as she seems to wish.
One million years in the future, the human survivors of a nuclear war are served by robots called "fleshapoids." One day, fleshapoid Xar runs wild, kills its mistress and seeks its mate, a servant of wicked Prince Gianbeno.
Ken Jacobs’s most elusive and mysterious film is at once an allegory of movie-making, a demonstration of 8mm versatility, and a celebration of a now vanished neighborhood beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.
"...in a film abounding with humor and fertile with suggested points of departure for at least half a dozen more pictures, clearly deserves the encouragement that a top award can give." - Statement of the Judges of the First International Erotic Film Festival (Bruce Conner, Maurice Girodias, and Arthur Knight)
A tender and realistic story of a scientist who falls in love with a mummy he has restored to life.
A teenager and his girlfriend must save the world from "eye" aliens after their attempts to convince authorities of an invasion fall on deaf ears.
Made when I was a bit depressed which is nothing new,. Bob Cowan happened to be depressed as well and so we had a wonderful time working together. One of the actresses was separated from her husband at this time and the movie solidifies into concrete the repressed desires of everyone.
“LUST FOR ECSTASY is my most ambitious attempt since my last film…. I wrote many of the pungent scenes on the D train, and when I arrived on the set I ripped them up and let my emotional whims make chopped meat out of the performances and the story…. Yes, LUST FOR ECSTASY is my subconscious, my own naked lusts that sweep across the screen in 8mm and color with full fidelity sound.” – George Kuchar
An insane, deformed killer stalks the grounds of a resort house, bringing sudden violence to those of easy virtue and godlessness.
The Shadow Glass is roughly based on Ewers' 'Student of Prague'. It concerns a young man who, feeling incapable of surmounting the harsh realities of love and life, sends his reflection cut to procure and win for him the object of his desire. Rather than being his servant and slave, the reflection takes over and controls the life of the man. In frustration and anger the man kills his reflection in order to be set free. The reality of the situation is the reality of suicide. The entire film could be interpreted as taking place in a brief second–for as long as it takes pull the trigger.
"SOUL FREEZE is Cowan's masterpiece to date, and one of the most consciously anguished of films. It is centered around a man who is being 'tempted' by female sexuality."–Fred Camper
"A tribute to overwhelming nature, this film is rich in both color and sound. A combination of original footage and images from children's books, text books, etc." –B. C.
"From the way the film begins, and the way the outside images are used, it is clear that they are not intended to be entirely specific to the girl; not, say, to represent her 'thoughts.' The objects and images are rather metaphors–i. e., the pale, barren snow scenes–for the girl's state. Further, they place her isolation in a more general context than that of a single person's experience. The film creates a whole system which describes that isolation. This is made clearer still by the end, which alters the girl's color and removes her from her relatively personalized room." –B. C.
A dance-music-processional homage to the life force, a unification of nature and man, shot in San Francisco, Yosemite and New Mexico; made on a grant from the Canada Council. –B. C.
An abstract, rhythmically cut film with various images of women, some of whom are dancers. The sound track, which is semi-electronic, is composed and played by Cowan. –B. C.
"A tribute to overwhelming nature, this film is rich in both color and sound. A combination of original footage and images from children's books, text books, etc."/ "Why is it that just when you start getting into something you really like, that woman comes along with all her gyrating and sexy outfits; she's so irresistable you just can't go on... or can you." –B. C.
"Just what it says." –B. C.