International
Scorsese to present John Huston award to Darren Aronofksy
MUMBAI: Martin Scorsese will present the first John Huston Award for outstanding achievement in cinema to Darren Aronofksy at the First Time Fest scheduled to take place in New York from 1 to 4 March.
The festival will screen a dozen films competing and the jury and the audience will together select a grand-prize winner who will be offered theatrical distribution and full international sales representation from the American film distributor Cinema Libre Studio.
The fest will also present a series of first films from filmmakers who went on to become big names like Aronofsky‘s Pi, John Huston‘s The Maltese Falcon and Stanley Kubrick‘s Killer‘s Kiss.
The festival, which celebrates first-time filmmakers, was co-founded by Johanna Bennett and Mandy Ward and will be hosted by The Players, the club founded by actor Edwin Booth, author Mark Twain and artist John Singer Sargent in 1847 and located at Gramercy Park.
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.
