Lionsgate has signed a three-year production and distribution deal with After Dark Films, the company from filmmaker Courtney Solomon and financier Allan Zeman, who produced the indie boxoffice hit "An American Haunting." ADF also will produce and acquire its own films for wide release through its alliance with Mark Borde and Mike Doban's Freestyle Releasing, which will serve as ADF's distribution arm. "After Dark has already established a distinctive signature in the marketplace, and we look to them as an important supplier of independent, commercially strong motion picture product as we continue to organically and cost-effectively grow our film slate," said Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns, who helped orchestrate the partnership after the release of "An American Haunting," which Lionsgate will bow Oct. 24 on DVD.

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