International
Rome Film Festival set to honour Fellini
MUMBAI: With the first screening of a restored copy and a retrospective of the glory days when Rome was called Hollywood , the Rome Film Festival will fete the 50th anniversary of Fellini‘s classic La Dolce Vita.
The 178-minute black and white La Dolce Vita, that premiered in 1960, has become an icon for film buffs.
The fifth edition of the festival will be held from 28 October to 5 November. It will open with Federico Fellini‘s Last Night.
Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg and Anouk Aimee, the film was considered scandalous at the time but is quite tame by the standards of today, where more flesh can be seen in a television deodorant advert.
The festival will also include twenty four Italian films made from 1952 to 1980 and a series of exhibitions throughout Rome on the way the city was when the jet set flocked to the capital to see and be seen.
Besides, Last Night the main competition includes Rabbit Hole directed by John Cameron Mitchell starring Nicole Kidman, Dianne Wiest and Aaron Eckhart.
While Last Night is a tale of sexual attraction, betrayal and jealousy in which a couple‘s fidelity is tested during a 36-hour period when they are apart and with other people, Rabbit Hole is the story of a couple who grapple with the sudden loss of their child as their already troubled marriage is further tested by the bereavement.
The Focus Section of the festival will spotlight Japanese cinema and culture and will hold a special event dedicated to filmmaker Akira Kurosawa‘s birth centenary. The festival will screen the restored version of Kurosawa‘s 1950 masterpiece, Rashomon.
The major attraction of the Rome Film Festival is that actress Julianne Moore will receive an acting award while Keira Knightley, Eva Mendes and Aaron Eckhart will walk the red carpet to present their new movies.
The festival that will go underway on 29 October will end on 6 November.
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.
