International
Catherine Deneuve to receive European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award
MUMBAI: Catherine Deneuve, whose decades-long career has made her a prominent name in French cinema, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Film Academy.
Her roles in Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in 1964 and Repulsion by Roman Polanski in 1965 catapulted her to stardom, and since then she has gone on to work with industry heavyweights such as the late Spanish filmmaker Luis Bunuel in Belle de Jour and Tristana, French director and screenwriter Jean-Pierre Melville in Un Flic and Andre Techine in Ma Saison Preferee and Les Voleurs.
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Deneuve earned her first Cesar in 1981 for her role in The Last Metro by Francois Truffaut, and received another Cesar and an Oscar nomination for her role in Regis Wargnier’s Indochine. Her other accolades include a Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival and a Berlin Silver Bear.
Deneuve has also delved into Hollywood, having guest starred in TV series Nip/Tuck and appearing in a sex scene with Susan Sarandon as a bisexual vampire in Tony Scott’s 1983 film The Hunger.
Recently, she starred in Berlin competition title On My Way and will appear in Andrew Techine’s L’homme que l’on aimait trop and Benoit Jacquot’s Trois Coeurs. She will be an honorary guest at the 26th European Film Awards Ceremony on 7 December in Berlin.
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.
