10th International Segal Center Film Festival (Day 1)

Schedule for Thursday May 28

Thursday, May 28 | The Segal Theatre Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, at 34th Street

6:00 pm

Short Opening

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6:10 pm

Monk in Pieces by Billy Shebar & David C. Roberts.

(USA / Germany / France, 2025, 94’)

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7:50 pm

Q & A with director Billy Shebar and Monk ensemble member Katie Geissinger.

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8:20 pm

Reception — Wine & Cheese

Join Segal Theatre Center's 10th international Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) from May 28, May 29 and June 1, 2026--again in partnership with New York’s legendary arthouse Anthology Film Archives.

From May 28 to June 5, 2026, The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at CUNY’s Graduate Center will present the tenth edition of its Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) in partnership with Anthology Film Archives, New York’s legendary arthouse cinema. This year's festival contains a bold international program of new films plus "Robert Wilson On Screen," a retrospective of films by and about Robert Wilson, one of the 20th century’s most transformative theater artists, who passed away in 2025 at the age of 83. Curated by Tomek Smolarski with Frank Hentschker.

The festival will take place in two locations:

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM

Presented by Segal Center Film Festival and curated by Tomek Smolarski with Frank Hentschker. F

ilms in the international program will be screened on May 28–30, 2026 at

The Segal Theatre Center, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, at 34th Street

First Come, First Served. All showings are free.

For info, trailers, stills and to RSVP for the entire festival, visit: https://www.thesegalcenter.org/film-festival-2026 

ROBERT WILSON ON SCREEN -- RETROSPECTIVE

Presented by Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance in partnership with Anthology Film Archives.

Screened from May 29 – June 5, 2026 at Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, New York City.

For info, trailers, stills and to RSVP for the entire festival, visit: https://www.thesegalcenter.org/film-festival-2026 

ROBERT WILSON ON SCREEN Tickets are $14-$8 and can be purchased at: anthologyfilmarchives.org.

Curated by Tomek Smolarski with Clifford Allen, Jed Rapfogel and Frank Hentschker.

ABOUT THE TENTH SEGAL CENTER FILM FESTIVAL ON THEATRE & PERFORMANCE

Since its founding in 2015, FTP has been the premier U.S. event for new film and video works focusing on theater and performance, presenting screen-based works that explore the boundaries between stage and cinema, and inviting experimental and established artists from across the globe to share original films with New York audiences and industry professionals.

Dr. Frank Hentschker (Executive Director, The Segal Center) holds a PhD in theater from the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen, Germany. He joined the Graduate Center in 2001 as program director for the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center and was appointed to the central doctoral faculty in theater in 2009. The Robert Wilson retrospective is presented in collaboration with Anthology Film Archives, The Robert Wilson Estate & Trust and The Watermill Center and is curated by Tomek Smolarski with Clifford Allen, Jed Rapfogel and Frank Hentschker.

 INTERNATIONAL FILMS OF THE FESTIVAL

The festival opens Thursday, May 28 at The Segal Theatre Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street) with a special evening screening of "Monk in Pieces," followed by a Q&A with director Billy Shebar. The program continues Saturday, May 30 and Monday, June 2 with a rich selection of international works spanning documentary, performance film, and hybrid forms from seven countries. Festival films include:

Monk in Pieces dir. Billy Shebar & David C. Roberts | USA, Germany, France, 2025 | 94 min

Premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival and named one of the “10 Best Art Films of 2025” by Hyperallergic, this revelatory portrait follows composer and interdisciplinary artist Meredith Monk, now in her seventh decade of creativity, as she confronts her own legacy and the question of whether such singular work can survive without her. With interviews from Björk, David Byrne, and Philip Glass. Screening May 28 with Q&A featuring director Billy Shebar and Monk ensemble member Katie Geissinger.

In-I In Motion dir. Juliette Binoche | France, 2025 | 156 min

The directorial debut of Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche. In 2007, Binoche and British dancer-choreographer Akram Khan stepped outside their established careers to co-create In-I, an original performance they staged 100 times worldwide. Nearly two decades later, Binoche has assembled the footage into a two-part documentary: raw studio rehearsal footage revealing two masters pushing beyond their limits, followed by the complete live performance in its propulsive, moodily lit entirety. Variety called it “the rare fascination of watching two leading artists at times out of their depth, figuring out new dimensions to their craft.” Screening May 30.

Unbound dir. John English & Tom Garner | Spain, 2024 | 91 min

Winner of the Jury Award at the Central Scotland Documentary Festival, this urgent documentary follows a group of abuse survivors from the ballet world who walk out of toxic companies and build a radical, inclusive company of their own, led by Chase Johnsey, a gender-fluid dance insurgent. A story of resistance, recovery, and the fight to reclaim the stage. Screening May 30.

Respoken dir. Sidney Ken & Thaiphirun Hul | Cambodia, 2024 | 26 min

Winner of Best Documentary at the Cambodia National Short Film Festival and Best Short Film at the Cambodia Asian Film Festival, this acclaimed short follows a visionary actor and his small troupe as they fight to revive Lakhon Niyeay, Cambodia’s traditional spoken theater, preparing for their first major show in six years against dwindling audiences and an uncertain future. An intimate portrait of the courage it takes to keep an endangered art form alive. Screening May 30.

Palestine Comedy Club dir. Alaa Aliabdallah & Charlotte Knowles | Palestine, UK, 2024 | 97 min

This bold documentary follows six Palestinian stand-up comedians as they write and tour a comedy show across the West Bank, Haifa, Nazareth, Jerusalem, and London — using dark humor to explore identity, occupation, and survival. Filming began before October 7, 2023; the tour continued through the war. “Humor can transport contents like nothing else,” said international sales company First Hand Films. “This film makes its audiences laugh, cry, fall in love, and learn something.” Screening May 30.

Museum of the Night dir. Fermín Eloy Acosta | Argentina, 2025 | 88 min

Jurors praise its “striking sense of style and consistency… a fascinating, deeply felt journey through the intersections of art and identity.” In 1968, Argentine artist Leandro Katz attended a midnight performance by the Theatre of the Ridiculous in a New York pornographic cinema. This film-essay, weaving archives, testimonies, and spectres of the past, revisits that lost queer underground world surrounding Jack Smith and the Theatre of the Ridiculous, documented by avant-garde filmmakers including Jonas Mekas, as Katz, now very late in life in Buenos Aires, uncovers footage he believed lost forever. Screening May 30.

Ewa — The Last Lesson dir. Andrea Mura & Federico Savonitto | Italy/Poland, 2025 | 66 min

After sixty years of theatrical research, collaborating with Jerzy Grotowski and generations of European theater artists, Ewa Benesz prepares to leave Italy and return to Lublin, the city she fled during Polish martial law in the 1980s. As she gives her final workshops and writes her memoirs, the film asks: what survives when a life’s work in performance can no longer be transmitted in person? A deeply resonant portrait of theater as living memory. Screening June 2.

Obsessed with Light dir. Sabine Krayenbühl & Zeva Oelbaum | USA, 2025 | 90 min

A visual poem in honor of Loïc Fuller (1862–1928), the wildly original American dancer who pioneered modern performance by fusing fabric, movement, and light into a completely new kind of spectacle, and whose influence has since reached Taylor Swift, William Kentridge, Bill T. Jones, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. With voice performances by Cherry Jones and commentary by Robert Wilson. “A meditation on light and the enduring passion to create” (Film Movement). Closing the in-person program June 2.

The full program spans works from the USA, Spain, Cambodia, Palestine, Argentina, France, Italy, and Poland, continuing FTP’s decade-long commitment to presenting the most urgent and inventive new screen-based work in international theatre and performance.

FULL SCHEDULE OF INTERNATIONAL FILMS OF THE FESTIVAL

All screenings at Segal Theatre Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street), unless noted.

Thursday, May 28 | The Segal Theatre Center

6:00 PM — Short opening

6:10 PM — "Monk in Pieces" | dir. Billy Shebar & David C. Roberts | USA/Germany/France | 94 min

7:50 PM — Q&A with director Billy Shebar and Monk ensemble member Katie Geissinger

Saturday, May 30 | The Segal Theatre Center

12:00 PM — "Unbound" | dir. John English & Tom Garner | Spain | 91 min

1:40 PM — "Respoken" | dir. Sidney Ken & Thaiphirun Hul | Cambodia | 26 min

2:15 PM — "Palestine Comedy Club" | dir. Alaa Aliabdallah & Charlotte Knowles | Palestine/UK | 97 min

4:00 PM — "Museum of the Night" | dir. Fermín Eloy Acosta | Argentina | 88 min

5:45 PM — "In-I In Motion" | dir. Juliette Binoche | France | 156 min

Monday, June 2 | The Segal Theatre Center

5:00 PM — "Firebird" | dir. Irina Patkanian & Marion Schoevaert | USA | 23 min

5:30 PM — "Ewa — The Last Lesson" | dir. Andrea Mura & Federico Savonitto | Italy/Poland | 66 min

6:40 PM — "Obsessed with Light" | dir. Sabine Krayenbühl & Zeva Oelbaum | USA | 90 min

For all information, stills, trailers, and to RSVP for the entire festival, visit: https://www.thesegalcenter.org/film-festival-2026 

ABOUT THE CURATORS

Tomek Smolarski is a cultural manager, producer, and curator with over 20 years of experience producing international cultural events and building bridges across disciplines through cultural diplomacy. His work spans theater, film, and performance, and he has collaborated with leading U.S. institutions including BAM, MoMA, Lincoln Center, Anthology Film Archives, MoMI, Pacific Film Archive, and La MaMa Theatre, among many others.

Dr. Frank Hentschker (Executive Director, The Segal Center) holds a PhD in theater from the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen, Germany. He joined the Graduate Center in 2001 as program director for the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center and was appointed to the central doctoral faculty in theater in 2009.

ABOUT THE MARTIN E. SEGAL THEATRE CENTER

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center (MESTC), The Graduate Center, CUNY, is a non-profit center for theater affiliated with CUNY’s PhD Program in Theater. The Center’s primary mission is to bridge the gap between the academic and professional performing arts communities, providing an open environment for the development of educational, community-driven, and professional projects in the performing arts. www.theSegalCenter.org

ABOUT ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES

Anthology Film Archives is one of the world’s largest and most important repositories of avant-garde film, dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of film as an art form. Located at 32 Second Avenue, New York. anthologyfilmarchives.org

SPECIAL THANKS

Jed Rapfogel (Anthology Film Archives); Clifford Allen; Christof Belka & Noah Khoshbin (RW Work, Ltd.); Paige Laino & Nicole Martorana (The Watermill Center); Brian Belovarac (Janus Films); Rebecca Cleman, Karl McCool, and Jooyoung Park (EAI); Pauline de Grunne; Tomek Jeziorski; Stefan Kurt; Franco Laera; Edward McCarry (Cinema Guild); Mark Obenhaus; Ralph Quinke; and Elena Rossi-Snook (NYPL).

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For info, trailers, stills and to RSVP for the entire festival, visit: https://www.thesegalcenter.org/film-festival-2026 

Press info & Press comps: Frank Hentschker, 201-213-0343, fhentschker@gc.cuny.edu