''Monk in Pieces'' is a 2025

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

by Billy Shebar about the visionary composer and performer

Meredith Monk Meredith Jane Monk (born November 20, 1942) is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. From the 1960s onwards, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recordi ...

, who overcame hostile critics to become one of the great artists of her time. In her seventh decade of creativity, she ponders how her unique work can continue without her. The film features interviews with

David Byrne David Byrne (; born May 14, 1952) is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has ...

and

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

, who talk about Monk’s profound influence on their work. ''Monk in Pieces'' had its world premiere at the

75th Berlin International Film Festival The 75th annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, took place between 13 and 23 February 2025 in Berlin, Germany. American filmmaker Todd Haynes was named the Jury President for the main competition. It marked the f ...

on February 18, 2025, in the Panorama section. It was nominated for Best Documentary/Essay Film at the 39th Teddy Awards.

Synopsis

– composer, performer, and interdisciplinary artist – is one of the great artistic pioneers of our time, yet her profound cultural influence is largely unrecognized. ''Monk in Pieces'' takes the form of a mosaic, mirroring the structure of Monk’s own work as it explores her wildly original vocabulary of sound and imagery. As a female artist in the male-dominated downtown arts scene of the 1960s and ‘70s, Monk had to fight for recognition and resources. Many early reviews in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' were unappreciative, some vicious: “A disgrace to the name of dancing,” wrote Clive Barnes, and “so earnestly strange in a talented little-girl way,” wrote John Rockwell. Yet as her celebrated contemporary,

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

, says in an interview, "she, among all of us, was – and still is – the uniquely gifted one." In the film's final chapters, Monk faces mortality. We see her warily entrust her masterpiece, ''

ATLAS An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

'', to opera director

Yuval Sharon Yuval Sharon is an American opera and theater director from Naperville, Illinois, based in Los Angeles. He is the founder and co-artistic director of The Industry Opera. Since 2020, he has served as the Gary L. Wasserman Artistic Director of ...

and singer Joanna Lynn-Jacobs for a new production at the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. The orchestra holds a regular concert season from October until June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from ...

. For 60 years, Monk has directed and performed in all of her music theater works; now she must learn to let go. What will happen to such singular work after she is gone?

Cast

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

Julia Wolfe Julia Wolfe (born December 18, 1958) is an American composer and professor of music at New York University. According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', Wolfe's music has "long inhabited a terrain of its own, a place where classical forms are rech ...

* Joanna Lynn-Jacobs *

Ping Chong Ping Chong ( zh, c=張家平, p=Zhāng Jiāpíng; born 1946) is a Canadian-born American contemporary theatre director, choreographer, video and installation artist. Born in Toronto and raised in the Chinatown section of Manhattan, Chong is con ...

John Schaefer John Schaefer is an American radio host and author. A longtime host at WNYC, Schaefer began hosting the influential radio shows '' New Sounds'' in 1982 and ''Soundcheck'' in 2002, and has produced many different programs for other New York Publi ...

Production

The film grew out of director Billy Shebar’s 30-year relationship with Monk and her work. In 1990, Shebar’s wife, Katie Geissinger, joined the cast of Monk’s ''ATLAS'', and has performed in all of Monk’s major works since then. Shebar developed the film with his former producing partner David Roberts. Production was funded by a major grant from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

. Additional support was provided by the

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

-backed Jewish Story Partners. From 2021 to 2024, Shebar filmed interviews with Monk, David Byrne, Björk and others; rehearsals for Monk’s latest work, ''Indra’s Net''; and scenes from her daily life in the

Tribeca Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...

loft where she has lived and worked since 1972. During that time, he also explored Monk’s extensive archive at the

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

as well as her private archive. The development and making of the film in Shebar's words:

Release

''Monk in Pieces'' had its world premiere at the

on February 18, 2025 in the Panorama Section. It was nominated for Best Documentary/Essay Film at the 39th Teddy Awards. The film had its international premiere at the

Thessaloniki Documentary Festival The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (TDF; ) is an international documentary festival held every March in Thessaloniki, Greece. TDF, founded in 1999, features competition sections and ranks among the world's leading documentary festivals. Since ...

in March 2025 in the Open Horizons section, and is scheduled to screen at the

49th Hong Kong International Film Festival The 49th Hong Kong International Film Festival () took place from 10 April to 21 April 2025. Louis Koo was selected as the Filmmaker in Focus for this edition and masterclasses led by Albert Serra, Juho Kuosmanen, and Leos Carax were featured. T ...

, IndieLisboa, and Dokfest Munich. In June 2025,

Zeitgeist Films Zeitgeist Films is a New York, New York, New York-based distribution company founded in 1988 which acquires and distributes films from the U.S. and around the world. In 2017, Zeitgeist entered into a multi-year strategic alliance with film distr ...

and

Kino Lorber Kino Lorber is an international film distribution company based in New York City. Founded in 1977, it was originally known as Kino International until it was acquired by and merged into Lorber HT Digital in 2009. It specializes in art film, art ho ...

acquired distribution rights to the film.

Reception

Reviews of the world premiere were positive: Stephen Dalton, writing in ''The Film Verdict'', called it “an engaging, relatable, very human story about an uncompromising female artist battling to keep her unique vision alive.” ''

Filmmaker Magazine ''Filmmaker'' is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP (Independent Fil ...

''’s Lauren Wissot wrote that the film “deftly reflects Monk’s own approach to her iconoclastic art, forcing us to listen with a different ear, to look closer not away.” Writing in ''Kino-Zeit'', Andreas Köhnemann observed: “The scenes in which Björk describes her intense feelings and amazement are among the numerous beautiful moments of ''Monk in Pieces''.” Amber Wilkinson of ''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'' described the film as a “rich tapestry of Monk’s music… soaring vocalisations that swoop and loop across her three-octave range.” The ''Moveable Fest''’s Stephen Saito called it “the best celebration that could be offered for an artist who found so much in her own voice.”

Accolades

References

External links

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''Monk in Pieces''
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