“Brother Joseph and the Grotto,” currently in production, tells the “true fairy tale” of the tiny Bavarian hunchback monk who built a miniature city in the Alabama woods. Brother Joseph Zoettl, who died in 1961, built more than 125 miniature buildings out of concrete and recycled materials on the grounds of Saint Bernard Abbey in Cullman. This feature documentary is a creative chronicle of Brother Joseph’s life, which contains many of the hallmarks of classic fairy tales (e.g. name change, long journey, superhuman feat). As such, the documentary will have a fairy-tale structure.
For more info and to view teasers of the film, visit RED CLAY PICTURES.
To listen to Kate’s song AVE MARIA GROTTO visit YouTube.
Brother Joseph was a simple man
Collected rubbish for his building plans
Alabama clay, shells from the sea
Broken china plates and rosary beads
Ave Maria
Ave Maria
Well he never saw the wonders of the world
But he built them all in perfect miniature
People talk about the places they’ve been
But Joseph found peace within
Ave Maria
Ave Maria
And when time erodes all things manmade
True devotion will still remain
Ave Maria
Ave Maria
Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell
© 1998 Large River Music (BMI)
AVE MARIA GROTTO is included on two of Kate’s albums: SING ME OUT and ROSARYVILLE