International
12 Indian scriptwriters at Locarno’s Open Doors
MUMBAI: From over 200 projects submitted in 18 different languages from 30 regions in India, the following twelve were selected to participate in Open Doors, the 2011 Festival del film Locarno‘s co-production lab.
They are Aharbal Falls by Ajay Raina, Ajeeb Aashiq by Natasha Mendonca, Arunoday/Sunrise by Partho Sen Gupta, Burqa Boxers by Alka Raghuram, Char, The Island Within by Sourav Sarangi, Jat Panchayat/The Judgement by Satish Manwar, Lasya/The Gentle Dance by Anup Singh, Samaadhi/The Penance by Sidharth Srinivasan, Sebastian Wants to Remember by Vasant Nath, The Trapper‘s Snare by Shanker Raman, Thread/Le Fil by Lilium Leonard and Vidhvastha/Devastated by Ashish Avikunthak.
Among the 12 Indian scripts that competed at the Locarno‘s Open Doors, 2011, the main prize of 50,000 Swiss Francs was shared by the two top winners. Shanker Raman was awarded 30,000 Swiss Francs for his script of The Trapper‘s Snare, Alka Raghuram was awarded 20,000 Swiss Francs for her script of Burqa Boxers, produced by her.
While the Rucha Pathak produced The Trapper‘s Snare is the spiritual journey of 15-year-old Sundaran, his experiences and realisations, and the rite of going into adulthood, Burqa Boxers is about three young Muslim girls learning boxing at a little gym in Kolkata, each one a warrior determined to knock out a few stereotypes.
The CNC (Centre National du Cinema et de L‘image Animee awarded a grant of 7,000 Euros to Anup Singh for his script in Lasya (The Gentle Dance) produced by Johannes Rexin. The film, set in Mumbai, a city steadily flooded by raging monsoon rains, in which a beggar child is fatally hit by a truck. Her young mother is determined to fulfill her promise to the child that she will find the father who had deserted them a long time ago.
The grant of 6,000 Euros for development from ARTE was awarded to Char … The Island Within, produced and directed by Sourav Sarangi.
The film follows a 14 year old boy who lives near a river that eroded an entire village – his home, his school, green fields and the large banyan tree.
Since its inception, Open Doors has showcased projects from Cuba and Argentina, countries in the Mekong, the Maghreb, South-East Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand), the Near and Middle East (Mashrek), Latin America, Greater China and, in 2010, central Asia.
India was the country of focus for the Locarno‘s 2011 Open Doors.
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.
