International
Film on HIV/AIDS gets award at Vancouver Documentary Film Festival
NEW DELHI: Fire in the Blood directed by Dylan Mohan Gray has won the 2013 DOXA Feature Documentary Award, the main prize at the DOXA Documentary Film Festival, which concluded recently in Vancouver.
"Fire in the Blood is truly outstanding. The real story of the struggle to make HIV and AIDS drugs available and affordable for the world’s poor, is nothing like the headlines we have read. It is both a heart-breaking and a heart-warming story all in the same film and it is elevated by exceptional access to captivating moments of deep humanity and emotion", the jury said.
It added: "In exploring the macrocosm of big industry and the microcosm of individual people Fire in the Blood makes clear that we are all responsible for this crisis and there is something we can do to influence change. It is a wakeup call and a call to action for all of us to take back our health care rights from the pharmaceutical companies who only care about their bottom lines, and our world leaders who allow big pharma to let millions die in the name of profit."
Fire in the Blood also received the Justice Matters Award at the 27th Washington DC International Film Festival last month.
The film will be screened in Geneva next month in conjunction with the World Health Assembly (WHA), with events and panels sponsored by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and UNAIDS. There will also be a screening and panel discussion hosted by the Royal Society of Medicine in London on 28 May.
International
Utopai Studios unveils 4K three-minute video generation for PAI platform
New Story Agent and editing tools aim to streamline AI-led filmmaking workflows
MUMBAI: Utopai Studios has announced a major upgrade to its PAI storytelling AI platform, introducing what it claims is an industry-first capability to generate three-minute videos in 4K resolution, alongside enhancements to its Story Agent feature.
The update, rolling out from April 15, expands the platform’s capabilities across the filmmaking process, from early concept development to post-production. The company said the new features are designed to help filmmakers maintain continuity across characters, scenes and visual styles, a key challenge in AI-driven storytelling.
At the heart of the release is a next-generation model that enables more structured narrative development, allowing creators to move more seamlessly from idea to execution. With tools such as multi-shot sequencing and multi-turn editing, the platform aims to give both studios and independent creators greater control over complex storytelling workflows.
Commenting on the launch, Utopai Studios co-founder and CTO Jie Yang said, “The next phase of AI in media will not be defined by isolated tools, but by systems that can carry story, continuity and collaboration across the full creative process.” He added that the update is a step towards enabling more practical, end-to-end narrative development at a professional level.
Echoing this, Utopai Studios co-founder and chief scientific officer Zijian He said, “Generative video is opening the door to a new production model, where creative ambition is less constrained by traditional cost and complexity.” He noted that the platform combines multimodal models with iterative editing to give creators more speed, control and consistency.
The company said PAI is already being used in professional film and television productions, particularly in Hollywood, for tasks such as pre-visualisation, scene design and post-production refinements. The latest update adds features including improved voice options, character consistency, unlimited editing and more flexible asset management.
Utopai also emphasised that its models are not trained on copyrighted material, positioning the platform as a cleaner alternative for creators and rights holders navigating the evolving AI landscape.
As AI continues to reshape content creation, Utopai’s latest push signals a shift from standalone tools to integrated systems, aiming to make high-quality filmmaking faster, more flexible and increasingly accessible.
