International
Melbourne Fest to open with The Fairy on 21 July
MUMBAI: This year‘s Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) will begin with the Belgian film The Fairy and the world premiere of Fred Schepisi‘s The Eye Of The Storm when it opens July 21.
Said MIFF artistic director Michelle Carey, “The Fairy is that rare case of a festival-friendly film that is honorably humanist and inventive yet unapologetically accessible and comical. That it is also whimsical and a little nostalgic makes it the perfect opening for the 60th MIFF.”
Other important events include Morgan Spurlock who will present the Australian premiere of his POM Wonderful Presents: the Greatest Movie Ever Sold, and master classes with Lisa Gerrard and French comedy writer-director Frances Veber.
In all 300 films will screen at the festival across a number of sidebars including Australian Showcase, Prime Time – a focus on works made for television by feature film directors, including the world premiere of ABCTV drama, The Slap, and a partnership with Festival Scope featuring 12 films from 12 countries in the European Union, from Greece to Germany, Slovenia to Spain. It will also include TeleScope will sketch a cinematic map of contemporary European film with highlights including Spain‘s Finnesterrae, and The Solitude of Prime Numbers.
Other sidebars include Accent on Asia, which brings the very best of Asian cinema to MIFF audiences including legendary director Takeshi Kitano‘s Outrage and Thailand‘s Sivaroj Kongsakul‘s feature film, Eternity and This Sporting Life among others.
he festival‘s ever-expanding, four-day film co-financing event MIFF 37?South Market, will again be held on the opening weekend with a record 100 selected Australian/NZ producers matched with national and international financing guests.
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.
