2008
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Genre : COMEDY
Director : Benoit Mariage
Screenplay : Benoit Mariage

Cast :
 Benoit Poelvoorde
Gilbert Melki
François Damien
Julie Depardieu
Bouli Lanners
Jean-Marie Barbier
Jean-Marie Grzelczyk
Christine d’Argenton
Olivier Gourmet
Philippe Nahon

Running time: 1h 36 min
Production: Belgium
Rating: Not rated
Distributor: UGC
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CowBoy

Sponsored by : THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OF BELGIUM IN AMERICA
Introduction by Professor Geoffrey Field, History
Q&A with Boris Van Gils, Assistant Director

 

Daniel Piron feels blue. His marriage is boring, his ideals have faded away… even his job as a journalist is a joke. The only idea that still excites him is to commenorate and make a film about Tony Sacchi, a revolutionary hero of his youth. Through this adventure, Daniel would like to restore the fervent and engaged young man he once was. But, alas for him, Sacchi is now a cynical gigolo… At the end of a tragic-comedic epic trip, will Daniel Piron end up by understanding that he has to accept his disillusions to finally find him self.

 

"Ce bijou de comédie grinçante (...) sonde la nature humaine avec humour et sensibilité".
Hubert Lizé, Le Parisien

"Cowboy montre un faux tournage de faux documentaire mais est nourri de réalité"
Serge Kaganski, Les Inrockuptibles

DIRECTOR’S QUOTES
The choice of Gilbert Melki (Tony Sacchi) by Benoit Mariage
“I wanted to find the exact opposite of Benoit Poelvoorde: a latino, very wiry, very intuitive. In my mind, he had to be italian. I have been looking for a Belgian actor in vain, so I went for a French one and more particularly Gilbert Melki, who I thought was perfect for the role. He has a kind of animal power and, simultaneously, he can be incredibly two-faced. With him and Benoit, the dynamic of the opposition works very well”.

Benoit Poelvoorde
Benoit Poelvoorde (born September 22, 1964, in Namur, Belgium) is a Belgian actor.
His first movie was the 1987 student film Pas de C4 pour Daniel Daniel (which he co-directed and co-wrote). It was followed by C'est arrivé près de chez vous (Man Bites Dog internationally) was a low-budget school graduation project (1992), which went on to become a critically acclaimed cult movie.
He subsequently starred in several movies which made him famous in France and Belgium, and was selected to be member of the Cannes Film Festival Jury in 2004, on request of Quentin Tarantino, a big fan of his second movie.
In 2005 he came in 7th place in the Walloon version of De Grootste Belg (the Greatest Belgian).

Selective Filmography
1992  : C'est arrivé près de chez vous by Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel
1997  : Les Randonneurs by Philippe Harel
1998  : Les Convoyeurs attendent by Benoît Mariage
2001  : Le Vélo de Ghislain Lambert by Philippe Harel
2002 : Le Boulet by Alain Berbérian
2002  : La Vie politique des Belges by Jan Bucquoy
2004  : Podium by Yann Moix
2004 : Narco by Tristan Aurouet and Gilles Lellouche
2005 : Akoibon by Édouard Baer2005 : Entre ses mains by Anne Fontaine
2006 : Jean-Philippe by Laurent Tuel
2006 : Selon Charlie by Nicole Garcia
2007 : Cowboy by Benoît Mariage
2007 : Les Deux mondes by Daniel Cohen
2008 : Asterix at the Olympic Games by Thomas Langmann and Frédéric Forestier