CANNES, France - April 22, 2026 - Stellar Pictures and MiniMax HailuoAI jointly unveiled their collaborative animated music video, The Fleeting Beauty, at the 2nd World AI Film Festival (WAIFF) in Cannes. Yixu Wang, Founder & CEO of Stellar Pictures and AI Content Producer, Jason Zhang, Founder & President of Stellar Pictures and AI Content Producer, and singer-actress Esther Yu attended the festival, and held an exclusive industry showcase & in-depth panel discussion at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès de Cannes.
Chaired by internationally acclaimed Chinese actress Gong Li, this year's WAIFF has brought together creators from more than 80 countries and regions, with over 20,000 outstanding entries spanning short films, feature films, commercials, series and other diverse content forms submitted globally. With the distinctive vocals of Esther Yu, the track's performer, perfectly complementing the visuals featuring unique Eastern aesthetics, the work has garnered widespread acclaim from domestic and international audiences and industry professionals through its innovative expression powered by AI animation.
As a leading content company with international influence, Stellar Pictures has long been deeply engaged in full-IP chain operation, with a comprehensive layout spanning literature, film and television, music, derivatives and short drama production. Centered on its flagship "Eastern Fantasy" brand, the company has built a diversified and collaborative content ecosystem. The global launch of The Fleeting Beauty in Cannes fully demonstrates Stellar Pictures' profound strength in content creation and technological innovation.
Global Premiere of The Fleeting Beauty: Interpreting Eastern Aesthetics
Co-produced by Stellar Pictures, MiniMax HailuoAI, and Guangming Daily, The Fleeting Beauty utilizes AI visual language to carry on Stellar Pictures' signature Eastern Fantasy aesthetic. The single was fully produced and overseen by Stellar Pictures Music Factory, with Yixu Wang personally serving as executive producer and producer. The lyrics are inspired by the iconic poetic line by Chinese literary master Wang Guowei: "What in the mortal world can never be held? The fading beauty from the mirror, the fallen blooms from the tree", with profound emotion embedded in its minimalist and restrained musical arrangement. The MV alternates between scenes of a modern girl recording a song and a female swordswoman walking alone in a snowy night, with the melody serving as the bond connecting the two timelines, as their fates resonate through their shared vibrant vitality. The entire MV blends delicate hand-painted textures with the blank-space artistic conception of traditional Chinese watercolor, with a restrained color saturation that conveys a serene, introspective Zen essence rooted in Eastern aesthetics.
From a technical standpoint, MiniMax's multimodal large model delivers highly stable visual performance, adeptly handling complex light and shadow while intricately depicting characters' facial features.During the event, Esther Yu expressed her delight in sharing the song with Cannes audiences. She extended her gratitude to Stellar Pictures and MiniMax HailuoAI, noting that the collaborative creation process had been a wonderful experience.She shared her deep affection for the track's beautiful Chinese-style melody and the gentle emotion embedded within it, adding, "What matters most in music is always emotion. It is always the content itself that touches people."
As the first Chinese animated music video co-created by Stellar Pictures and MiniMax HailuoAI for international release, the project showcased a one-of-a-kind Eastern aesthetic alongside a sophisticated audio-visual presentation. The screening earned unanimous praise from both domestic and international industry insiders and audiences alike. A number of overseas media attended the event, paying close attention to and speaking highly of the work's distinctive Chinese-style audio-visual expression. Live audience showed strong interest in the integration of Eastern aesthetics and modern animation language in the film, and many international practitioners took the initiative to communicate with the team after the screening, recognizing the unique expression of Eastern Fantasy visual storytelling. With this debut, Yixu Wang, a representative creator of Eastern Fantasy, once again took the "Eastern Fantasy" aesthetic as a bridge, bringing the unique Chinese animation aesthetic and cultural core to the global mainstream entertainment vision.
Yixu Wang on AI and Creation: Presenting Imagination With Refined Precision
In a subsequent in-depth panel conversation, Yixu Wang and Rhea, a host representing MiniMax HailuoAI, discussed the intersection of AI technology and Eastern Fantasy themes.Talking about the creative core of the MV, Yixu Wang said, "We have always been committed to creating Eastern Fantasy content that carries the overarching theme of 'love and peace'. Just as the lyrics embody the yearning for a better life, this is an emotional resonance that audiences around the world can share." He explained that the emotional tension of the lyrics "that glance freezes time, an undying yearning" inherently carries strong visual imagery and room for imagination. The intervention of AI technology allows creators to transform these originally abstract emotions and artistic conception into visible visual language.
This music video marks the first official release born out of the content partnership between Stellar Pictures and MiniMax HailuoAI, serving as a key milestone in the execution of their broader strategic collaboration. As one of the world's earliest companies to invest in AI technology for visual effects (VFX) in film and television, Stellar Pictures will continue to increase investment in this field going forward, deeply empowering the film and television VFX process to deliver more realistic visuals and better present Eastern aesthetics. Meanwhile, the company will also extend AI technology to the creation of high-quality animation, using new technologies to expand the boundaries of imagination. In the future, the two parties will promote the implementation of results in more fields, and continuously empower the global reach of content creation.
Advancing Global Cultural Outreach: Building the Global Influence of the Eastern Fantasy Brand
At the event, Jason Zhang, President and Producer of Stellar Pictures, and singer Esther Yu walked the red carpet with The Fleeting Beauty, becoming one of the most high-profile Asian faces at this year's World AI Film Festival. From the film screening to the red carpet appearance, Stellar Pictures presented a complete cultural outreach matrix, demonstrating the creative strength and cultural confidence of a Chinese content company on the international stage.
From the cross-cultural resonance caused by the overseas broadcast of Love Between Fairy and Devil , to Love Game in Eastern Fantasy scoring 9.4 on North American platform Rakuten Viki and 8.3 on IMDb, and The Melody of Love being selected into Shanghai's "Chinese Culture International Communication" project, Stellar Pictures' "Eastern Fantasy" brand has maintained a clear and steady pace of global cultural outreach. *Love Between Fairy and Devil* hit No.1 on the global popularity chart of iQIYI International within 4 hours of its launch, was nominated for the Golden Angel Award at the 2023 China-US TV Festival, and received attention from international media such as the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. The global premiere of The Fleeting Beauty in Cannes marks another powerful expansion of the "Eastern Fantasy" brand in the global marketplace.
Here, modern audio-visual language meets the spirit of traditional Chinese culture, allowing Chinese stories to be seen by the world in richer forms. With content as its foundation and technology as its driving force, Stellar Pictures is steadily turning its vision of "making the world fall in love with Chinese culture" into a tangible and expanding array of works.
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