International
Galway Film Fleadh opens
MUMBAI: This year‘s Galway Film Fleadh that opened last evening will pay a tribute to filmmaker and festival producer Leila Doolan. On the occasion, the Ireland‘s leading film festival is also organising a workshop with actress Annette Bebing.
Films to be screened at the festival include eighteen new Irish films and several vintage movies from the Irish Film Archive along with world premieres, international features, documentaries, animation and shorts.
The festival opens with My Brothers that tells the story of three young brothers who set out on a mission in a battered bread van on a Hallowe‘en weekend to replace their dying father‘s watch.
Bening co-stars with Julianne Moore in The Kids are All Right as a lesbian couple in southern California, one of whose kids wants to meet their “bio-dad”.
Among the documentaries that would be screened are The Pipe by Risteard Ó Dómhnaill, a portrait of the pressures within a community living with the Corrib gas project in north Mayo, and Burma Soldier, a profile of a former soldier and member of the Burmese junta who becomes a pro-democracy activist.
The tribute to Doolan takes the form of a public interview on 10 July.
Doolan worked in RTÉ, Ireland‘s National Television and Radio Broadcaster in the 60s was first chairwoman of the Irish Film Board and was a key mover in the Burren Action Group that successfully opposed original plans to build an interpretative centre at Mullaghmore, Co Clare.
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.
