Prominent Arab producers and industry executives have announced that a plan to start up the first unified motion picture association and to launch the Arab Film Awards is underway.

The announcement was made during the 13th Dubai Film Festival, the world's leading Arab cinema platform.

The Arab Film Awards, which is viewed to be the Arab film industry's version of Oscars, is set to be launched in Dubai in March 2018. The Arab Film Awards will cover 19 categories, from directing to cinematography and lifetime achievement.

The initiative is spearheaded by the recently conceived Arab Film Institute (AFI). According to Lebanese producer Paul Baboudjian, the goal of the organization is to have at least 500 members next year.

"Being a witness and active member of the bright and rich Arab film scene, I felt we needed to bring together all this energy and exchange experiences and ideas as well as offer wider opportunities in a fast-changing world to our film community," Baboudjian said during a press conference on the launch of the AFI.

The non-profit cultural body aims to serve as a platform for Arab cinema, and help support the industry's future development.

Aside from launching the first regional film awards, the institute also looks forward to becoming a forum for the region's film industry. It aims to tackle issues such as distribution impediments caused by the varieties of Arabic across different countries. Another issue the body seeks to address is the lack of a real pan-Arab star system.

"We are a single market; we need to build this market and this has not been happening," said Salem Brahimi, the Algerian director and producer behind the work "Let Them Come."

He also acknowledged the possibilities of conflicts arising within the organization but expressed with positivity that despite the potential rifts, he is confident that they will be able to achieve their goals.