International
Allen’s Midnight in Paris to open Cannes fest
MUMBAI: The 64th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will open with Woody Allen‘s new film, Midnight in Paris.
Some of the film‘s stars including Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Adrien Brody and Michael Sheen are expected to walk down the red carpet at the opening ceremony.
Sheen, who played football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United, is cast as a pompous intellectual in the film, a romantic comedy set in the French capital. Singing praises of the Newport-born star, Allen has been reported as saying, “Michael had to do the pseudo-intellectual, the genuine intellectual, the pedant, and he came in and nailed it from the start.”
A number of big Hollywood names are expected with Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz, stars of the Pirates of the Caribbean alongside Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman and Jodie Foster.
The festival, to run till 22 May, will screen around 50 films from 33 countries, including India. Forty-four will be world premieres and 20 will vie for the famed Palm D‘Or to be decided by a nine-member Robert De Niro-led jury that will have among others, Jude Law and Uma Thurman.
Shekhar Kapoor‘s, Bollywood, The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, the sole Indian movie in the festival‘s official sections will, however, not, be part of the competition lineup.
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.
