iQIYI Screened AI-restored "Woman Sesame Oil Maker" in Budapest, Leveraging Technical Innovation to Revive Classics

BEIJING, June 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- iQIYI, an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China, premiered the AI-restored 4K version of the 1993 Golden Bear-winner Woman Sesame Oil Maker in global markets in Budapest, Hungary last week. The premier marked the latest successful application of iQIYI's ZoomAI, the company's video enhancement technology, showcasing the company's strong capability in leveraging technological innovations to enhance content quality, viewer experience, and production efficiency.

ZoomAI Bringing New Life to Classic Films

The ZoomAI-enhanced, 4K version of the award-wining film was premiered at the Hungarian State Opera on May 22, followed by another screening at the Urania National Film Theater on May 25, where hundreds of Hungarian and Chinese audiences engaged in spirited discussions with XIE Fei, director of the film, after the showing. Xie will screen the film and host workshops in universities in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Germany later on.

Produced by Tianjin Film Studio and Changchun Film Studio, Woman Sesame Oil Maker tells the tragic story of two generations of Chinese rural women. Producing the updated version of the film, which now features full color and enhanced clarity, took eight months and was completed by a team of 20 people, consisting of experts from iQIYI as well as the Xiamen University Film Restoration Lab.

Xie saw tremendous value in the process and believes ZoomAI and other AI technologies can bring new life to classic films. "Technologies allow traditional, classic films to meet with the viewers again with enhanced visual and audio qualities, which enable future generations to enjoy culturally significant films," Xie commented at the 13th Beijing International Film Festival, where the restored version of the film was first enjoyed by the audience in China.

According to the head of iQIYI's ZoomAI restoration team, the implementation of AI technology has improved the restoration efficiency of classic films by 500 times. This not only reduces the costs and expenses of the process, but also effectively addresses the issue of understaffing faced by the industry.

Estimates showed that 75% of the movies released before 1914 have zero copies left, and just 10% of all film copies produced globally since the 19th century have been preserved.

ZoomAl was able to revive 90% of the films in 4K high-definition picture quality, offering audiences an exceptional audio-visual experience. To date, iQIYI has restored more than 150 films with ZoomAI, including Mu Guiying Takes Command, Li Shuangshuang and many other classic films released from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Leveraging Technology to Enhance Entertainment Experience

iQIYI has long committed to utilizing technology to enhance content production and viewing experience, and the success of ZoomAI marked the company's latest achievement against a long record of industry-leading innovations.

Meanwhile, iQIYI actively explores how generative AI applications, built upon Large Language Model (LLM), can improve content production and promotion efficiency in the long-form video industry.

iQIYI's internal assessment indicates that generative AI technology can be implemented in multiple business scenarios, including streamlining script brainstorming, creation, and review processes. Text-to-image and text-to-video applications are also valuable tools for generating pre-visualization during production preparation and for use in comic and animation production processes.

CONTACT: iQIYI Press, press@qiyi.com 

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