Ang Lee's 3-D blockbuster Life of Pi, which enjoyed a red carpet gala to kick off the 9th annual Dubai International Film Festival Sunday, December 9 night, was a particularly apt title to open the Gulf region's premiere cinema event, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Lee's big budget adaptation of the Yann Martel best seller is about the bridging of cultures as a young Indian boy struggles to survive a voyage on a lifeboat across the Pacific Ocean with only a Bengal Tiger for company. Similarly, the Dubai Festival fancies itself as a bridge between the cinematic cultures – and industries – of Hollywood and the still developing Arab region.

Life of Pi marks the second Hollywood tentpole to open the festival in as many years, after Tom Cruise-starring Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, which did extensive location work in the Gulf Emirate, had its world premiere here in 2011.

The Dubai line-up includes several high-profile titles, among them the Anthony Hopkins/Helen Mirren starrer Hitchcock and Andrew Adamson's Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, which, like Life of Pi, was shot in 3-D. And a crowd of global cinema VIPs was on hand for the Life of Pi premiere in Dubai: the film's Indian stars Suraj Sharma, Adil Hussain and Shivanthi Sainath strolled the red carpet, along with jury members Cate Blanchett, Freida Pinto, Michael Apted, Kerry Fox and celeb attendees including Colin Firth and Roxy Music frontman Brian Ferry.

Regional cinema, however, does have pride of place at Dubai alongside the Hollywood glitz, with such titles as the Iraq drama Bekas from director Karzan Kader and Wadjda from helmer Haifaa Aal Mansour, the first-ever film shot in Saudi Arabia by a female director.