“The Pastor’s Children—Punks, Politicians, and Philosophers”

Deutsches Haus at NYU presents a screening of the documentary “The Pastor’s Children—Punks, Politicians, and Philosophers,” followed by a conversation between the film’s director/co-producer, Angela Zumpe, the pastor of the German Lutheran Church of St. Paul in New York, Miriam Gross, and her son, Amos Gross. The film (84min) will be shown with English subtitles. You can watch the trailer of the film here.

The pastor’s house should contribute to improve the state and society. That’s how the reformers had imagined it. The parishioner’s expectations of a pastor’s daughter in the 1960s were simple: She ought to be less cheeky than her girlfriends, less funny and less selfish. Tensions were inevitable. The filmmaker Angela Zumpe, who grew up in the rectory, composes a mosaic of film fragments, old photos, her father’s Super 8mm films, Christian paintings, all guided by the search of her protagonists for answers on the question: Is there still a myth of the parsonage? The film gives voice to pastors’ children. Featured are the former Minister of State in the Federal Chancellery, Eckart von Klaeden, the GDR punk Mechthild Katzorke, and the young pastor of 11 churches, Valentin Kwaschik, who never wanted to be a pastor like his father. The publicist Hans Hütt fondly remembers the eloquence of his father and how tightlipped he reacted on his coming out as gay. Family Thimme exemplifies the modern parsonage today. In her search, Angela Zumpe encounters funny, sad, and absurd stories, and a recurrent fundamental need for meaning and security.

Angela Zumpe is Professor of Audiovisual Media in Dessau, Germany, and an expert for TV-design, video production, and installations. Before working as an art-director for the news channel n-tv and developing its entire corporate design in 1991, she worked for Rias TV/Deutsche Welle and created design concepts for the German TV stations SFB, ORB, MDR, and SAT1. Many of her artistic video productions emerged on the treshold of film, design, and art. She studied painting, installation, and video at the University of Fine Arts, Berlin, and film at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Miriam Gross
is the pastor of the German Lutheran Church St. Paul in New York. After living and working in Franconia, Scotland, and Munich, she moved to New York with her husband and four kids. As a working mom and pastor to the German Lutheran St. Pauls Church, Miriam Gross knows about the blessings and struggles women have juggling a family life and a career. With the church being in Chelsea and the parsonage in White Plains, she is able to experience life in New York City and Westchester as well. Miriam Gross has recently published the book Hello, Mrs. Father! Mein turbulenter Alltag als Pfarrerin in New York, (Claudius Verlag, 2016) and writes a blog in German about her experiences as a pastor in New York.

Events at Deutsches Haus are free of charge. If you would like to attend this event, please send us an email to [email protected]. Space at Deutsches Haus is limited; please arrive ten minutes prior to the event. Thank you!

“The Pastor’s Children—Punks, Politicians, and Philosophers” is a DAAD-sponsored event.











When: Mon., Mar. 13, 2017 at 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Where: Deutsches Haus at NYU
42 Washington Mews
212-998-8660
Price: Free
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Deutsches Haus at NYU presents a screening of the documentary “The Pastor’s Children—Punks, Politicians, and Philosophers,” followed by a conversation between the film’s director/co-producer, Angela Zumpe, the pastor of the German Lutheran Church of St. Paul in New York, Miriam Gross, and her son, Amos Gross. The film (84min) will be shown with English subtitles. You can watch the trailer of the film here.

The pastor’s house should contribute to improve the state and society. That’s how the reformers had imagined it. The parishioner’s expectations of a pastor’s daughter in the 1960s were simple: She ought to be less cheeky than her girlfriends, less funny and less selfish. Tensions were inevitable. The filmmaker Angela Zumpe, who grew up in the rectory, composes a mosaic of film fragments, old photos, her father’s Super 8mm films, Christian paintings, all guided by the search of her protagonists for answers on the question: Is there still a myth of the parsonage? The film gives voice to pastors’ children. Featured are the former Minister of State in the Federal Chancellery, Eckart von Klaeden, the GDR punk Mechthild Katzorke, and the young pastor of 11 churches, Valentin Kwaschik, who never wanted to be a pastor like his father. The publicist Hans Hütt fondly remembers the eloquence of his father and how tightlipped he reacted on his coming out as gay. Family Thimme exemplifies the modern parsonage today. In her search, Angela Zumpe encounters funny, sad, and absurd stories, and a recurrent fundamental need for meaning and security.

Angela Zumpe is Professor of Audiovisual Media in Dessau, Germany, and an expert for TV-design, video production, and installations. Before working as an art-director for the news channel n-tv and developing its entire corporate design in 1991, she worked for Rias TV/Deutsche Welle and created design concepts for the German TV stations SFB, ORB, MDR, and SAT1. Many of her artistic video productions emerged on the treshold of film, design, and art. She studied painting, installation, and video at the University of Fine Arts, Berlin, and film at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

Miriam Gross
is the pastor of the German Lutheran Church St. Paul in New York. After living and working in Franconia, Scotland, and Munich, she moved to New York with her husband and four kids. As a working mom and pastor to the German Lutheran St. Pauls Church, Miriam Gross knows about the blessings and struggles women have juggling a family life and a career. With the church being in Chelsea and the parsonage in White Plains, she is able to experience life in New York City and Westchester as well. Miriam Gross has recently published the book Hello, Mrs. Father! Mein turbulenter Alltag als Pfarrerin in New York, (Claudius Verlag, 2016) and writes a blog in German about her experiences as a pastor in New York.

Events at Deutsches Haus are free of charge. If you would like to attend this event, please send us an email to [email protected]. Space at Deutsches Haus is limited; please arrive ten minutes prior to the event. Thank you!

“The Pastor’s Children—Punks, Politicians, and Philosophers” is a DAAD-sponsored event.

Buy tickets/get more info now