International
Argo wins BAFTA award
MUMBAI: Iran hostage drama Argo won three awards including best-picture, at yesterday‘s British Academy Film Awards.
Ben Affleck was named best director for the film based on a real story of a long shot plan to rescue a group of American diplomats from Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the film also took the editing trophy.
Quipped George Clooney, one of the producers of Argo,”I don‘t know what you‘re going to do for a third act.”
Daniel Day-Lewis won the best-actor trophy for Lincoln – the only prize out of 10 nominations for Steven Spielberg‘s historical biopic. Emmanuelle Riva, the 85-year-old French film legend, was named best actress for Michael Haneke‘s poignant old-age portrait Amour. It also was named best foreign-language film.
On the other hand, Les Miserables won four awards including best supporting actress for Anne Hathaway. James Bond adventure Skyfall won trophies for best music and best British film.
Meanwhile, Suraj Sharma, who was nominated in the EE Rising Star Award for his role on Life Of Pi, lost the trophy to actress Juno Temple. Juno, the actress of The Atonement was clearly more popular than Sharma as the rising star trophy is the only award at BAFTA that is decided by public vote.
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.
