tv series / 32 x 5 minutes
for wdr / 2012 - 2022
Trude's Flatmate
about
German broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk WDR got in touch with us at the end of 2011 to find out what projects our studio was developing. Marcus Sauermann mentioned briefly a story about an energetic woman with a gravelly voice in her thirties who tends to get to the bottom of things. A habit that sometimes can be charmingly annoying to others. Her name is Trude. For some weeks now, Trude shares her small two-room-flat with a hairy giant beast. Only the beast’s squeaky voice and its rather childish behavior stop people from feeling totally intimidated by this strange creature. Open mindedly and with a great sense of humor Trude deals with her new flatmate and his peculiar episodes since any kind of prohibition or order wouldn’t work anyway.
By now, WDR has commissioned writer Marcus Sauermann and director Klaus Morschheuser to produce 26 episodes of the TV-series Trude’s Flatmate. The episodes are broadcast as parts of German most famous children’s magazine Sendung mit der Maus on Sunday mornings.
Laura Andersen, Etienne Bagot-Caspar, Viola Baier, Louise Bentz, Michael Bohnenstingl, Marion Bordeyne, Sandra Brandstätter, Christina Brix, Carsten Bunte, Pedro Ivo Carvalho, Paul Cichon, Stefan Müller-Doriat, Gero Eckhardt, Matthias Eckhardt, Dominic Eise, Clément Fassler, Elena Felici, Mark Feller, David Friedenstein, Simon Dilling Hansen, Christian Heck, Sebastian Koch, Tanja Krampfert, Matthias Lappe, Paulina Larson, Benoit Leleu, Michael Logar, Johannes Lumer, Sarah Mar-chand, Torben Meier,
team
Jonas Bastrup Mikkelsen, Martin Minsel, Rocío M. Montiel, Klaus Morschheuser, Patrick A. Müller, Petja Nedeltscheva, Kim Nguyen, Lars Nørgaard, Ana Obau, Fredrik Ollson, Jano Olmos, Marie Renaud, Parzival Röthlein, Marcus Sauermann, Sabrina Schmidt, Georg Schneider, Mathias Schreck, Sandra Schulz, Michael Sieber, Alexandra Stautmeister, Monika Tenhündfeld, Arseniy Testin, Tobias Trebeljahr, Massimiliano Truzzi, Johannes Weiland.
One aspect that fascinates us when we watch our kids grow up is that besides all their glories character traits we also encounter emotions like hate, greed or envy in their purest form. Negative feelings are deeply rooted in us. These feelings can be powerful, strong, dark and often un-controllable. Something they share with Trude’s flatmate. These feelings are important. They serve a purpose. In accepting them we sometimes find a better way to deal with ourselves or others. Just like Trude when she keeps her cool while her flatmate is having one of his episodes.
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In 2017 Trude’s Flatmate was awarded as Best National Animated Series at the International Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart. In 2018 the TV-series got nominated for the International Emmy Kids Awards. In 2019 two episodes were awarded the Geisendörfer Preis for children’s TV. The jury said “The two smartly drafted episodes of “Trude’s Flatmate” are excellent examples of how knowledge and empathy can be conveyed in an entertaining way.” In 2020 Trude's Flatmate was nominated for the Grimme Award.
Further episodes of Trude’s Flatmate were nominated at several festivals, amongst others the Goldener Spatz 2015 // Chicago International Children's Film Festival 2016 // ZLIN - International Film Festival for Children and Youth 2016 // International Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart 2015 and 2016
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