Abouna, from Chad, was a recent successful African film

Africa Cinemas will aim to release and distribute at between 15 and 20 films in Africa every year.

Provided the films are released in at least five African countries, the group will pay for prints to be made, developed, sub-titled and transported. They will even pay for ticketing for cinemas, according to industry website ScreenDaily.com.

Africa Cinemas has been partly funded by the European Union and the French ministry of culture.

"The very fact that Europeans are administering and financing this pro-African initiative goes to show that the European Union is not a fortress," said Claude-Eric Poiroux, chairman of Europa Cinemas, which is also backing the organsiation.

"We would even consider financing the creation of an African distributor. In the long term it would be better if Africans could do it for themselves," he said.

African action hero

The organisation will have an initial budget of 1.5m euros (�1.19m).

The most successful African film recently was last year's Abouna (Our Father), from Chad. The film dealt with two boys trying to find their missing father, who has walked out on the family.

African cinema also came up with its own version of James Bond last month - the Cameroonian film Engagement Critique (Critical Assignment), starring an African action hero called Michael Power.