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Location location location: When filming Hollywood blockbuster The Kingdom, the producers found the desert around Abu Dhabi acted as a perfect substitute for Saudi Arabia, where the action thriller is set. The film is the first major Hollywood picture to be shot in the emirate.

Al-Ruwaini is optimistic on the future of the fund: "We are a public fund and anticipate being here for decades. We plan to establish the model for film funds in the Middle East and view the fund as a business venture - we want to make money. The fund will utilise the returns to fund local Emirati talent to give them grants to encourage and support them. We believe the return on the commercially viable projects will fund the grants for our local Emirati film-makers and that the success of our venture will pave the way for private investors to open up their own private funds."

Having a flourishing film industry will also lead to even more long-term investment in the region as well as further promote the cultural status that Abu Dhabi is so keen to achieve. "Of course, the expenditures for accommodation, food, equipment leases and property, transportation, wages and salaries paid to individuals in Abu Dhabi and expenditures for other goods and services as a result of motion picture production in Abu Dhabi would have direct and indirect economic benefits stimulating the economy," says Abed Awad, president of the Abu Dhabi Film Commission.

Keen to focus on the cultural aspect of film, the festival is working closely with the Abu Dhabi Film Commission, whose aim is to promote Abu Dhabi as a unique film industry destination. The commission will adopt a worldwide approach and Awad tells Arabian Business it will eventually become "a one-stop shop film production facilitator".

This commission is only the second of its kind in the Arab world following Jordan's decision to establish its Royal Jordan Commission in 2003, a country which most filmgoers in the West and Eastern world believe has a thriving and successful film community.

Through the Film Commission, Awad also wants to promote an understanding of the Arab world: "I see film transforming our culture and becoming the genre of choice for change and innovation. It will also represent what is great about our culture to the world.

"The dehumanisation of the Arab originated in film and through the next great innovation generation of Arab film-makers they will change the perception of Arab through film. Film is nothing more than storytelling and we have a tradition of literature that is second to none. We will break the code of the film industry and get a seat on the global culture machine's executive table." As well as the commission, investment from the local community is imperative in order for a film industry to thrive.

Adrienne Briggs, the circle's director, confirms to Arabian Business that the event is almost up to full capacity with parties wanting to understand the world of film and finance. On the importance of local investors Al-Ruwaini says, "We cannot expect Western financiers to build our local industry. Foreign investors have one thing in mind - making money. If they make money they will come to Abu Dhabi. Otherwise, why should they come? We want to attract Hollywood investors and film-makers to come here by providing them with incentives and at the same time start to stimulate our indigenous talent and finance to invest in the infrastructure necessary to build a local industry."

But while investors in the region can see tried and tested results from more traditional industries such as real estate, the film industry is a new concept in this region and anyone wanting to invest in it is expected to be cautious. "I have never found financing from my films here ever - not a single dollar has come from this market, the GCC or Asia," says Dhruv Dhawan, a Dubai-based documentary and commercial film director.

"People here are safe investors and even when they do take risks they take it in things that are sort of known to them. In Hollywood your next-door neighbour may invest in two films a year and so does everyone else but in this region it has never been done before. If someone does get the financing from here and then investors see there is money to be made in films it will really take off but not until then," he continues.

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