Carsten Bunte established Studio Soi with his partners in 2003 with the aim to create quality in the field of animation. Three of Carsten’s productions in 2009 were awarded with the Prix Jeunesse; two of them were selected as best children’s fiction program of the last 50 years. In 2011 Studio Soi received a special award for innovation.
From 2014-2018 Carsten was the showrunner of the tv-series “Klump”, re-branding the Scandinavian character Rasmus Klump created by Carla and Vilhelm Hansen.
He has been the managing director of Studio Soi since 2003.
Carsten received his diploma in economics from the university of Bamberg, Germany with specialization in strategic management in 1996. He studied film production at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and produced his diploma live-action feature film „Der Rattenkönig” in the series „Debüt im Dritten” in 2002.
Torben Meier is a co-founder of Studio Soi. Coming from a 2d and design background, Torben’s main focus is to merge artistic impact with the need to create a rate of return. As a production manager he worked on the Oscar-nominated BBC special „Room on the Broom“ in 2011-2012. From 2013-2018 Torben led a team of 30 animators to produce Cartoon Network’s TV-series „The Amazing World of Gumball“, wining 8 British Academy Children’s Awards, the Annie Award and the International Emmy Kids Award.
Torben is Studio Soi’s head of design.
Torben had several internships at animation studios before he studied animation and design at Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg. He received his diploma in 2003 and joined Studio Soi.
Klaus Morschheuser is a co-founder of Studio Soi. As a set designer Klaus is an expert in merging model-build-sets with cgi-characters and sets. Klaus was in charge of three Christmas specials for the BBC that were nominated for The Academy Awards in 2011 and 2014.
As a director he has won multiple awards, among others the award for best TV-special in Annecy in 2011. He co-developed the TV-series “Trude’s Flatmate” and was nominated for an International Emmy Kids Award in 2018.
Klaus is a visiting tutor at the Film- Akademie of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Klaus worked as a prop master, set- and puppet builder before attending Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in 1997. While studying, he worked as an 3d and stop-motion animator. He received his diploma in 2002.
awards
2 x nomination The Academy Awards (Oscar) / 2 x winner and 3 x nomination British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards (BAFTA) / 1 x winner and 2 x nomination Cartoon d'Or / 9 x winner Festival d'Animation Annecy / 6 x winner Internationales Trickfilm Festival Stuttgart ( ITFS) / 3 x winner Prix Jeunesse / 5 x winner Seoul International & Animation Festival (SICAF) / 2 x winner Ottawa International Animation Festival / 2 x winner Chicago International Children's Film Festival / 1 x winner New York International Children's Film Festival / 1 x winner Hiroshima International Animation Festival / 3 x winner Anima Mundi Festival / 3 x winner Goldener Spatz / 1 x winner Annie Awards / 2 x winner Robert Geisendörfer Preis / 1 x winner China International Cartoon and Digital Art Festival (CICDAF) / 2 x winner Shanghai International Film Festival / 2 x winner International Animated Film Festival Krok / 2 x nominated Grimme Preis / 1x Honorary Mention Ars Electronica / 1 x winner Deutscher Wirtschaftsfilmpreis
studio
Studio Soi was founded in 2003 by seven animation directors fresh out of film academy, with the aim of developing a long-standing working relationship. During the last 21 years we have been able to build our ideal working environment at our studio in Ludwigsburg, next to the famed Institute of Animation, drawing on a combination of new talent and many years of experience.
Over time we’ve learned to stretch our creative abilities and skills as we have been given the opportunity to work and consult on some of the most exciting projects out there. We offer animation and communication consultancy for clients from all fields of interest and love to delve deep into our own minds to create original works across the scope of service work, art, and films for children. Our productions have won worldwide acclaim, numerous international awards and have been watched by millions.
öo
With a roster of outstanding talent working across a wide array of media; including CG, drawn animation, stop frame, mixed media and live-action, Studio Soi has earned a reputation for highly creative storytelling, for visual innovation, and for quality in the field of animation.
Our studio strives to put individuals, with all their strengths and flaws, at its center just as human experience is at the core of our storytelling and animation. We work together to combine our individual strengths and build a company that is shaped by individuals’ specific ideas and is able to operate successfully in the market. Our work-force ranges from 20 to 80 people at any given time depending on the size of the projects we are working on. We look to collaborate with people who share the same values, and take pride in producing our own films.
studio
Partners / Carsten Bunte, Torben Meier, Klaus Morschheuser, Mathias Schreck, Michael Sieber
Associates / Marcus Sauermann, Johannes Weiland
people
clients
Amora Maille Société Industrielle, Bosch Healthcare Solutions GmbH, Bouygues Telekom, British Broadcasting Corporation, Cartoon Network, Cetelem, Deutsche Bahn AG, Fraport AG, Hanna Barbera Studios Europe Limited, Maggi-Unternehmungen AG, McKinsey & Company, Ministerium der Justiz und für Europa Baden-Württemberg, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, MTV,
Sad Origami, Netflix, NEUESUPER GmbH, Publicis, RTL +, Scholz & Friends, Stiftung Lesen, Südwestrundfunk, TBWA Paris, Tempo, Toto, Unterhaltungsfernsehen Ehrenfeld UE GmbH, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Zewa, ZDF
Mathias Schreck is one of seven founders of Studio Soi. As a technical director Mathias’ focus lies on transferring the vision of an artist into custom-made render and compositing pipelines. He set up production pipelines for TV-series like “The Amazing World of Gumball”, “Trude’s Flatmate” and “Klump” as well as three BBC-Christmas-specials. As the head of compositing he developed the look of “The Gruffalo” and “The Gruffalo’s Child”.
Mathias joined Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in 1998 shortly after having finished secondary school in Konstanz, Germany. He got his diploma in 2003.
Michael Sieber is co-founder of Studio Soi. He is a self-taught artist in numerous fields of animation. Michael was a rigging artists on “The Gruffalo”. As a 3d animator he worked on several short films and episodes of “Trude’s Flatmate”, as a 2d animator and director he created “Torvald and the fir tree” which won The Goldene Spatz in 2006. On “Toto” he was in charge of the compositing and won the SICAF in 2012. For two seasons he was the animation supervisor on the TV-series “The Amazing World of Gumball”. He scripted tools and developed vfx for the tv-series “Klump” between 2015-2018. As a director he created commercials for clients like Maggi and Fraport AG; with his short films for the German broadcaster ZDF he won numerous awards.
Michael spent 2 years working on a zero-budget film before studying at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg from 1994-1999. He dedicated another 3 years to his diploma film “Wunderwerk”, which won the LEAF award in 2002 and the Canal J Jury Award in Annecy, and finished his studies in 2002.
Marcus Sauermann joined Studio Soi in 2003. As a scriptwriter his body of work centres on stories for children. Marcus’ adaptation of Astrid Lindgren’s “Tomte Tummetott and the Fox” was awarded with the Grimme Preis in 2008 ; his feature film adaptation of Waldemar Bonsel’s book “Maja the Bee” was watched by more than 770,000 in Germany.
Throughout the years, Marcus’ short films have won numerous awards, among others the Erich-Kästner-Medienpreis, the Robert Geisendorfer Preis, the Prix Jeunesse, the Christal for Best TV-special, the Special Award at the Chicago Children’s Film Festival, the Golden Magnolia, the award for best TV-series at the International Trickfilmfestival in Stuttgart in 2016 and 2017 and a nomination for the International Emmy Kids Award in 2018.
Marcus is a visiting tutor teaching storytelling at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg.
Marcus received his diploma in media pedagogy, German philology and philosophy in 1993. He had a residency at the University of Göttingen, did research and wrote books, especially for children, before he attended Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in 1997. Marcus received his diploma for scriptwriting in 2002. His diploma film “Kuscheldoktor” was nominated for the Student’s Oscar in 2003.
Johnnes Weiland joined Studio Soi in 2004. As a director Johannes has won multiple awards, among others the Cartoon D’or for “The Little Boy and the Beast” in 2012. He was also nominated for the Cartoon D’or in 2006 with his short “Oli’s Chance”. In 2010, 2011 and 2012 his films won the prize for best TV-special in Annecy. From 2015-2018 he directed the TV-series “Klump” which was awarded best TV-series at the International Trickfilmfestival in Stuttgart in 2016.
He is a visiting tutor at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg since 2009.
Johannes studied animation at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg from 1998 to 2003. After receiving his diploma Johannes worked as a director and animator for studio aka, London. His first cgi-film “Hessi James” was nominated for the Student’s Oscar in 2001 and won the Short Tiger in 2001. His graduation film “Annie & Boo” won the Imagina Grand Prix in 2004 and Short Tiger in 2004.