International
Dustin Hoffman to receive Donostia award at Spanish film fest
MUMBAI: Hollywood actor Dustin Hoffman will be honoured with a special lifetime achievement award by Spain‘s top film festival, the San Sebastian International Film Festival. The festival will take place from 21 to 29 September.
Seventy five year old Hoffman will receive the Donostia award marking the 60th anniversary of the festival in northern Spain, the oldest and most prestigious event of its kind in the Spanish-speaking world.
“The award will be a tribute to one of Hollywood‘s greatest actors, winner of two Academy Awards and a brilliant career behind him,” according to a statement from the festival organisers.
Hoffman has starred in films like The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Straw Dogs, All the President‘s Men, Marathon Man, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie and Rain Man. Hoffman will also show his directorial sensibilities at the San Sebastian festival where he will present his directorial debut Quartet; a film set in a home for retired opera singers.
The film centers around three of the residents organise a concert every year to celebrate Giuseppe Verdi‘s birthday. But their peaceful life is disrupted by the arrival of one of the trio‘s ex-wife, and the potential of her expanding their group to a quartet.
Others to be honoured with awards during the festival are director Oliver Stone, John Travolta, Tommy Lee Jones and Scottish actor Ewan McGregor.
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.
