Monk in Pieces

Billy Shebar, Robert David / Germany, United States / 2025 / Czech Premiere / 95 min.

synopsis

"She, among all of us, was–and still is–the uniquely gifted one,” says renowned minimalist composer Philip Glass in a film about composer and performer Meredith Monk. This energetic portrait of the New York composer, performer, and visionary is an inspiring testimony to the advancement of female artists, urban rituals, and creativity that requires nothing more than the human body and voice. Packed with unknown archives from the 1960s to the present day, the film is an encouraging message that it is possible to achieve amazing imagination, life, community, female roles, open spirituality, and connection with the present. Björk and David Byrne are among the witnesses and supporters who speak out. The mosaic form seeks a cinematic expression of Meredith's new vocabulary of means for voice and movement.

“A highly engaging documentary portrait of Meredith Monk, trailblazing icon of New York City’s experimental arts and music scene… An engaging, relatable, very human story about an uncompromising female artist battling to keep her unique vision alive.” — Stephen Dalton, The Film Verdict

biography

Billy Shebar is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker known for High Noon on the Waterfront (2022) with John Turturro and Edward Norton, which premiered at Telluride and was broadcast on TCM and HBO; and Dark Matter (2007) starring Meryl Streep, which won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at Sundance. He collaborated with animator Bill Plympton on the viral web series Trump Bites (2018–2020) on the New York Times website; and with animator Yoni Goodman on the three-part crime series Doctor’s Orders (2021), which continues to stream on Max, Hulu, Amazon, and other platforms.