Jan Mojto Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Two heavyweights of German television and film are uniting.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Iconic German film and TV executive Jan Mojto is launching a partnership with longstanding friend and UFA head Nico Hofmann that will produce German and European series and films for the international market. They are joined in the unnamed venture by Beta producer Jan Wünschmann. The partnership was announced Wednesday, on the eve of the annual Berlin Film Festival.

Beta Film’s Jan Mojto and Mario Gianani, at Italy’s Wildside at a first session turning on the consolidation of business models. Another panel broke down three European hits – Netflix’s “The Snow Girl” and animated pic franchise “Tadeo Jones,” both from Spain, and mega European co-production “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan,” led by France’s Pathé.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jan Mojto’s Beta Cinema has announced first pre-sales for feature film “The Offing,” which will star and is executive produced by Helena Bonham Carter. Jessica Hobbs, who won an Emmy Award for “The Crown,” directs the U.K.-set English-language project. Distributors Curzon, Cineart and Madman joined forces and acquired all rights for U.K./Ireland, Benelux, and Australia/New Zealand in a multi-territory deal, fending off robust competition. The project was one of the hottest titles at the European Film Market, and further deals in major territories will be announced shortly, Beta Cinema said.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO, HBO and HBO Max Content will deliver a keynote at Series Mania’s Lille Dialogues whose one-day summit looks set to take the pulse on a global content industry as content investment flattens and ask how to build a more responsible industry in the future. Marking an early opportunity to hear from streaming platforms after both Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney have announced multi-billion dollar cuts in content investment, the Lille Dialogues also count on a keynote from James Farrell, head of local originals, Prime Video. Further keynotes will be delivered by top execs at France’s biggest free-to-air service, TF1, as well as its energetic public broadcaster France Télévisions and Europe’s biggest pay TV operator, Sky. Jan Mojto, CEO, Beta Film, can be expected to deliver a wide-angled vision of how stories made in Europe can find a market worldwide.

Beyond the festival element of Series Mania, one major draw for international industry professionals is the event’s industry strand, Series Mania Forum, which runs from March 21-23. The popular event, which largely centers around its Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, panels and conferences, wraps up with its Lille Dialogues one-day summit on March 23. 

Emiliano De Pablos Top Spanish producer Nostromo Pictures, which is behind Netflix hit “Through My Window,” is partnering with Beta Fiction Spain to launch “Hermano Caballo,” a documentary by Marcel Barrera, director of  “Mediterraneo: The Law of the Sea” and “100 Meters.” “Hermano Caballo” marks the first documentary produced by Nostromo Pictures and also the first handled by Beta Fiction Spain, the Spanish arm of Jan Mojto’s European studio Beta Film, which launched last year. The documentary focuses on reknowned Catalan wrangler Santi Serra, developer of a natural training technique based on creating bonds with horses and learning through play. 

Speakers Unveiled For Mip TV & Series Mania

Christopher Vourlias Beta Film CEO Jan Mojto was in his twenties when he left his native Slovakia in the 1970s, embarking on a career as a journalist before joining the German media giant Kirch Group and finally taking the reins of the Munich-based independent in 2004. Nearly half a century later, the 73-year-old admits a part of him has never left.

Beta Nordic Studios, a unit of Munich-based sales firm Beta Film, led by CEO Jan Mojto, has acquired a 25 percent stake in Iceland's Sagafilm, further expanding its presence in the Nordics. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentBeta Nordic Studios, a subsidiary of Jan Mojto’s Munich-based sales powerhouse Beta Film, has acquired a 25% stake in Sagafilm, the thriving Icelandic production banner behind the Cineflix-repped series “The Minister.” Sagafilm will now be part of Beta Nordic Studios, an unbrella group launched in 2019, comprising Patrick Nebout’s Swedish banner Dramacorp (“Cryptid”) and Matti Halonen’s Finnish company Fisher King (“Bordertown”).

By Leo Barraclough