Monk in Pieces

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The boundary-breaking artist Meredith Monk overcame a hostile critical establishment to become one of the great innovators of her generation.

In the midst of her latest creation, Indra’s Net, Monk faces mortality: can such singular work be performed without her?

My mom, Katie Geissinger, joined the cast of Monk’s ATLAS in 1990 and has performed in every major Monk work since. Monk in Pieces is directed by my dad, Billy Shebar, who developed the film over the course of his multi-year relationship with Meredith and her work. I grew up around her music and the performers who brought it to life.

The surreality of making a project like this – with your family, about the artist who’s been the backdrop to your whole life – is hard to overstate.

“What do you even call this?”

I did the graphics for a frenetic montage of musicologists attempting to define Meredith’s style over Zoom, talking themselves into ever-tighter corners of academic uncertainty. Working with our animator Paul Barritt’s incredible key art collage and typographical treatment, I created the film’s poster and its marketing materials, as well as hundreds of social assets for the festival circuit and theatrical run.

We found and digitized tapes the House Foundation had in storage at Iron Mountain — unearthing never-before-seen footage of Meredith riding the subway and drinking juice in her Tribeca loft in the late ’60s. The full project spanned about 20TB of footage and archival material.

I owned the complete technical post workflow, delivering to color and mix. I also designed and built the film’s website at monkinpieces.com.

Monk in Pieces opened at the 2025 Berlinale to a full house at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, where it was nominated for the Teddy Award for Best Documentary. It won Documentary of the Year at Doc’n Roll in London and screened at festivals from Thessaloniki to Hong Kong to Melbourne.

Stateside, it premiered at the IFC Center in New York with Meredith in person, and went on to play in over thirty cities. I toured the film and did Q&As in Hungary and at my alma mater, Kenyon College.

Seeing a full project come to fruition — from the first sizzle reel years ago to a Blu-ray on the shelf — is something I don’t think I’ll experience quite the same way again.

“Billy Shebar’s vital documentary makes sense of an artist who’s always defied basic understanding… a perfect window into the singular genius of Meredith Monk.”

“A vibrant mosaic of her life and work that both honors her prolific output and celebrates her singular vision.”

A film by Billy Shebar. Directed, written, and produced by Billy Shebar and David Roberts. Edited by Sabine Krayenbühl. Animation by Paul Barritt. Featuring Meredith Monk, Björk, and David Byrne. Distributed by Zeitgeist Films and Kino Lorber.

See also: Video