International
Chinese film to premiere at Intl Horror Film Festival
MUMBAI: Chinese film The Matrimony will have its North American premiere when it features as the closing night feature at the International Horror Film Festival (Spooky Movie Film Festival), Washington, D.C. on 25 October.
A thrilling film that has an amalgamation of romance and horror The Matrimony stars Hong Kong top singer Leon Lai, Taiwanese actress Rene Liu and mainland Chinese beauty Fan Bingbing.
The third feature film by new generation director Teng Huatao, The Matrimony unfolds an eerie love story set in 1930s Shanghai. Rich young man Junchu (Leon Lai) cannot pluck up his courage to propose to his broadcaster girlfriend Manli (Fan Bingbing), who dies in a traffic accident before becoming his wife. In deep regret, Junchu locks himself up in his creepy old mansion.
His mother marries him to a young woman Sansan (Rene Liu), hoping to alleviate his grief but with little success. To their surprise, Manli‘s ghost still lingers in the house and even possesses Sansan‘s body in order to have a taste of finally being Junchu‘s wife. This is now the third year that Spooky Movie has closed the festival with an “Extreme Asia” premiere.
In addition to The Matrimony, the horror fest will screen ten new features including Herschell Gordon Lewis‘ The Uh-Oh Show!, the terrifying Dark Souls, Oz-ploitation, ElL Monstro Del Mar!, The Echo Game, Stephen King‘s Everything‘s Eventual, the documentary on the career of Count Gore De Vol, Every Other Day Is Halloween, double features Colin and Broken Springs and Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.
In addition to the 11 features, 31 outstanding and diverse international shorts from nine countries will also screen. Horror, comedies, suspense, science-fiction, ghosts, experimental, vampires, animation, creepy kids, musicals, werewolves, maniacs and even a zombie western will accompany the feature films for each block, giving the lucky Spooky Movie patrons a fuller festival experience.
The Spooky Movie Film Festival runs from 21 to 25 October.
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.
