Jen Chaiken and Sebastian Dungan of Los Angeles-based 72 Productions will produce a feature-length version of the Darfur genocide documentary The Devil Came On Horseback.

Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg's documentary premiered at Sundance 2007 and is based on the memoir of former US Marine Captain Brian Steidle who secretly photographed the Arab-run government's efforts to eradicate the country's black African citizens.

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Freed will adapt the story of a young Marine who becomes an accidental activist and devotes his life to saving the people of Darfur.

'Brian didn't go to Darfur to save the world,' Chaiken said. 'He fell into it, and that's what makes him relatable.'

Dean Schramm of the Schramm Group represented the writers of the book and the screenwriter in the deal.

72 Productions is backed by private equity and its slate includes Edith Wharton drama The Perfect Hour and Venom, based on Chris Krovatin's novel about a Manhattan teen who copes with adolescent angst by escaping into a comic book world of his imagination.

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