Written by on Oct 18, 2011. Posted in On Location

Abu Dhabi highlights modern architecture and hints at future filming incentives

The Abu Dhabi Film Festival is in full swing at the moment and the city is eager to sell itself as a viable filming location. The festival’s first panel discussion was called Making Movies in Abu Dhabi and looked at how the city is trying to establish itself as a production hub, reports The National.

[Abu Dhabi’s] not been profiled that much. It's still quite new and fresh, and there are lots of new locations that haven't been seen in feature films before.

David Shepheard, Abu Dhabi Film Commission

As the Abu Dhabi Film Commission sees it, the city’s modern skyline and architecture is a major selling point, while its studio and post-production facilities need to be better promoted. David Shepheard, Director of the commission, spoke at the panel: “[Abu Dhabi’s] not been profiled that much. It's still quite new and fresh, and there are lots of new locations that haven't been seen in feature films before. It's still a city in motion, it's still being built and every day there seems to be a new piece of iconic architecture."

There was also mention of a filming incentive scheme being developed for a 2012 launch. This would be big news considering the lack of any kind of incentive programme at the moment is the main reason why the United Arab Emirates in general doesn’t get to host more international production.

The UAE still seems reluctant to launch an official filming incentive, preferring to appeal to specific projects like Mission: Impossible individually.

Addressing the subject, Shepheard stated: “It’ll be to attract one-off projects to bring their productions here. It's something we're working on right now and we hope to come to the market with the incentives package early next year.”

The UAE still seems reluctant to launch an official filming incentive, preferring to appeal to specific projects like Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (see below) individually.

Brad Bird's action sequel filmed scenes in Dubai last year. A sequence where Tom Cruise climbs the city’s Burj Khalifa building looks set to be one of the film’s central set-pieces and even dominates the poster campaign.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see what happens in the next few months.

Still image courtesy of Abu Dhabi Film Commission.