Image Entertainment Inc. on Monday said it hired investment bank Lazard Freres & Co. as a financial advisor to help it explore “strategic and financial opportunities to maximize long-term value.”

Lazard will conduct a thorough review of Image’s businesses and its strategic options, and will help the Chatsworth-based licensee and distributor of content for DVDs determine “the best course for the company and all its stockholders,” Image said in a statement. Lazard will work with an independent committee of directors.

The statement did not disclose what options Image would be exploring, such as a potential sale of the company.

The move comes amid Image’s continued refusal to be acquired by Lions Gate Films Entertainment Corp. Lions Gate has sought to buy Image since last year. Image fended off the studio’s most recent takeover bid in October, in which Lions Gate offered $4 a share in cash, just slightly above Image’s trading price at the time. Image board members said late last year that they are open to a sale but that previous offers were too low.

In March, Lions Gate filed a lawsuit to force Image’s entire board to stand for re-election.

Lions Gate owns 19 percent of Image’s company stock and is its second-largest stockholder behind Metromedia Co. founder and chairman John Kluge and partner Stuart Subotnick, who own 28 percent of the common stock.

Shares of Image were up 1.4 percent to $3.75 in afternoon trading on Monday.