International
UK Jewish Film fest from tomorrow
MUMBAI: The 14th UK Jewish Film Festival, that goes underway from 4 to 21 October, will have the presence of stars like Maureen Lipman, David Baddiel, Davina McCall, Boy George, Al Murray and Graham Norton.
This year‘s festival will have 66 films selected from more than 350 entries. The successful films will be screened at 10 cinemas in London, including the Tricycle in Kilburn, the British Film Institute, Ciné Lumiere in Kensington and the Barbican. There will be as many as 47 UK premieres of films that have been drawn from 16 countries.
One such UK premiere will be that of The Round Up that is based on the mass arrest and round-up in the Paris velodrome of 13,000 Jews including 4,000 children by the French police in July 1942. A box-office hit in France, the film stars Jean Reno, Mélanie Laurent (Inglorious Basterds) and, amazingly, a real-life survivor who is now 80 years old.
The festival also showcases new talent, most intriguing is A Jewish Girl in Shanghai, a Chinese animated film based on Wu Lin‘s graphic novel about the Holocaust. It tells the little-known story of Little Vienna, a area of China‘s most populated city in which some 30,000 Jewish refugees sought shelter during the Second World War.
Among the comedies on offer will be the UK premiere of Arab Labour made from an Israeli series by Sayed Kashua.
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.
