International
Film shot on iPhone wins Berlin fest award
MUMBAI: Korean film Paranmanjang (Night Fishing) won the Golden Bear Award for best short film at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival. This news has been evoking a lot of interest since brothers Park Chan-wook and Chan-kyong shot the entire 30-minute film on an iPhone.
One the nine Korean films that featured in the festival, Night Fishing was funded by roughly around $136k by South Korea‘s exclusive iPhone carrier, wireless company KT.
The plot of the experimental film, that took 10 days to record using the iPhone 4 and a crew of 80 people, centers around a fisherman who catches a female shaman in the middle of the night and transcends his current and previous lives. The film is a fantasy that uses recording techniques and effects that leave viewers in total disbelief that it was shot on the iPhone. The work is also the first movie to be recorded with a smartphone and win an award at an international film festival.
25 short films were competing for the award. Another Korean director, Yang Hyo-joo received second place honors in the same competition with her Silver Bear Award winning short film The Unbroken.
The jury explained its decision to award Night Fishing the Golden Bear, “The film we chose is nothing but a small miracle. Throughout the multi-layered original story of a simple man who is forced to confront his life and death through his shape-shifting, we experienced transformation, judgment and deep forgiveness.”
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.
