Award-winning director's feature, "The Cow's Orgasm," to be screened Thursday

An OU guest speaker’s film, “The Cow’s Orgasm” — to be screened Thursday night — has been described as “a big fat Greek comedy.”

A native of Athens, Greece, Olga Malea was invited to teach the Oklahoma Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program course week entitled “Making Movies Step by Step: From Idea to Award — Winning Film.” on campus this week. Her first feature film, “The Cow’s Orgasm,” will be screened 7 p.m. in the Oklahoma Memorial Union’s Meacham Auditorium with a reception beforehand at 6 p.m.

“The Cows Orgasm” — a 1997 film directed by Malea — is a coming-of-age story in which two 17-year-old girls, Cristina and Athanasia, discover and explore their sexuality in the restrictive cattle-raising regions of Greece. Their ordinary cycle of submissive life takes an unprecedented turn when they witness a cow having an orgasm during artificial insemination.

They see the cow’s reaction and decide they themselves should lose their virginity and experience a pleasure they never had before.

“It’s a film about two girls that want to lose their virginity,” Malea said. “They have a discovery at a very important period in their lives; it’s their transition to adulthood. The girls pursue this goal among others despite the culture they’ve grown up in.”

Andrew Horton, award-winning screenwriter, author and Film and Media Studies professor, invited Malea to teach a few classes and then screen her film.

The film was chosen because Horton knew Olga from his time bringing OU groups to Greece each year.

“The title came from a personal experience that occurred when I was younger,” Malea said. “I was at a barn once and witnessed the insemination process of a cow. I found the whole thing rather hilarious and knew I had to do something with the idea.”

With themes of the film applying to young people discovering themselves and the world around them, Horton described it as, “touching and realistic in the ways that it portrays the young women of the 1970’s. They want to have a life that goes beyond their particular families and home lives.”

Colby Frederick

Colby is a former staff member of The Oklahoma Daily who worked as Life & Arts Reporter.