The creative director of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival is harbouring dreams to open cinema screens in the UAE that will show festival films all year round.

"The feedback we're getting is people are starving for good cinema," says Peter Scarlett. "And because they get to do that only once a year at the festival, we're looking into opening something like this so people can enjoy festival cinemas for 365 days.

"Initially, distributors used to say there was no audience for it. But I definitely think the ice is starting to soften a little bit. It's all about how you market it."

Scarlett's festival already hosts limited free screenings of selected films around Dubai and Abu Dhabi. And this year, he's promising a "great mix" of old and new when the event opens for its fifth edition on October 13 in the capital.

From the latest films from Hollywood including Michael Brandt's The Double (with Richard Gere and Martin Sheen), George Clooney's directorial The Ides of March to the world premiere of Emirati filmmaker Nawaf Al Janahi's Sea Shadow and a tribute to two Nobel Prize for Literature winners — Egypt's Naguib Mahfouz and India's Rabindranath Tagore — the mix of films are unlike any other year's, says Scarlett.

"It's insanely difficult to secure the right films. But it's also a lot of fun.

"Many people don't understand that festivals don't operate as passive recipients of films people submit. We go out and we travel the world, scouring for the best films."

He was, however, tight-lipped about the stars coming to promote their films. "I can't answer that, because I'm not an astronomer," he teases. "In the three years I've been here, one of the characteristics of being in the Abu Dhabi festival is that it's often not until the celebrity has stepped off the plane that we know they're definitely here."

When asked which stars he would like to see coming, he was more forthcoming. "I'll give you two names. Viggo Mortensen has just made A Dangerous Method, where he plays Sigmund Freud, and Woody Harrelson has just given the performance of his life in a film called Rampart. Both films are showing this year and I think both actors will be getting a lot of awards. There is a good chance we will be seeing them in Abu Dhabi."

While celebrities help raise the profile of festivals, all successful festivals need to aspire to is to create a community, says Scarlett.

"There should be an interchange, a community of viewers and filmmakers sharing. That's key to any festival."