A new pan-African co-production market will be launched at this year's Sithengi Film And TV Market in Cape Town.

The African Co-Production Forum is an initiative between Sithengi and various international and African funds andfestivals to select two projects to pitch at Rotterdam's co-production market CineMartin 2007.

A total of 15 projects from East Africa, West Africa and Southern Africa (excluding South Africa) will be eligible to attend the ACF.

The ACF has been organised in association with Rotterdam'sHubert Bals Fund, The GotheborgFilm Fund, The Nigerian Film Corporation, The Independent TV ProducersAssociation of Nigeria, The East African Film Forum, The Zanzibar InternationalFilm Festival, the MAP TV programme market (Kenya) and the ZimbabweInternational Film Festival. It is aimed at correcting the slump in Africanfilm production.

The ACF is intended to be a two-phase event, with workshopsbeing held at MAP TV in Nairobi in March, the ZumaFestival in Abuja Nigeria and Harare. Co-production pitching sessions will then be heldat Zanzibar, ITPAN in Lagos, and Zimbabwe in July and August.The 15 finalists from these events will then be flown to Sithengi in November, and the two overall best projectspitched there will proceed to Rotterdam's CineMart in January2007, where they will attempt to find co-production funding.

Entries have already opened for the first ACF.