Image Entertainment has picked up U.S. release rights to Nigerian-American filmmaker Olatunde Osunsanmi’s thriller, Evidence.

Recapping from Vanessa’s initial profile of the project last Spring…

S&A has written about Nigerian-American filmmaker Olatunde Osunsanmi before; the last time was two years ago, upon the impending November 2009 theater release of his alien-abduction thriller, The Fourth Kind, which starred Milla Jovovich.

Evidence, penned by John Swetnam and produced by Bold Films and Marc Platt Productions – the team behind 2011’s critically-acclaimed Drive – co-stars rising British star Aml Ameen, who confirmed with S&A his role as Officer Jenson, and veteran actor Harry Lennix.

The film is led by Stephen Moyer (HBO’s True Blood) in the role of a detective who “hunts down a killer using video footage shot by the victims of a massacre at an abandoned gas station.”

The story follows the investigation of a brutal massacre at an abandoned
gas station. The Police arrive at the crime scene to find evidence of
the victims’ electronic devices – camcorder, cell phones and flipcams,
which the detective must then sort through, analyze and piece together
to solve the crime and identify the killer.

Radha Mitchell and Torrey DeVitto also star.

The Image Entertainment deal includes theatrical, home video, television and digital rights, with a theatrical release planned for this summer.

Recall that Robert Johnson’s RLJ Companies acquired Image Entertainment last year.

Director Osunsanmi is a name we’ve mentioned from time to time, but, despite his output, I’m not sure he’s as well known within the industry as he should be at this point.

But take note…