Global Showbiz Briefs: Rome Fest Lineup, News Corp Bid For Consolidated Clears Hurdle, Cecchi Gori In Deal With Daro

Rome Film Festival Announces 2012 Lineup
The 2012 International Rome Film Festival lineup includes 59 world premieres and 5 international premieres. There also are two surprise films yet to be announced. Roman Coppola's A Glimpse Inside The Mind Of Charles Swan III starring Charlie Sheen, Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman is competing for the event's top prize, as is Gabriel and Alan Polsky's The Motel Life, starring Stephen Dorff, Emile Hirsch, Dakota Fanning and Kris Kristofferson. Also on the competition list are Japanese director Takashi Miike's thriller Aku No Kyoten, Jacques Dollion's Un Enfant De Toi, and Enrique Rivero's Mai Morire. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ' Part 2 will make its world premiere at the festival, though none of the film's cast is expected to attend. The festival will be held November 9-17 at the Auditorium Parco della Musica. You can read the entire line-up on the festival's website.

News Wraps Up Acquisition Of Australia's Consolidated Media
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced today it would block the proposed acquisition by Seven Group Holdings of 75% of the shares in Consolidated Media Holdings, meaning News Corp.'s $2B bid for the media investment company will proceed. Acquiring CMH means News will boost its stake in dominant pay-TV platform Foxtel to 50% and gain full ownership of Fox Sports. The regulator ruled that allowing Seven Group, which controls the top-rated free-to-air network, to also have substantial interests in Australia's largest subscription TV service and 50% of the Fox Sports channels was likely to substantially lessen competition for sports rights. Seven Group, which owns 25.3% of CMH, had asked the ACCC to determine if it could bid for the remainder. It said it accepted the ACCC's decision and would vote in favor of News' bid as recommended by the majority of CMH's board. ' Don Groves

Cecchi Gori In Deal With Daro
Italy's Cecchi Gori Pictures and Monaco's Daro Film have entered an exclusive international distribution pact. Daro will handle all sales outside the U.S. on the Life Is Beautiful and Il Postino producer's films. Cecchi Gori recently completed a major restructuring following successful litigation against former company president Gianni Nunnari. The company says it is now profitable and focusing efforts on 'getting traction to their many owned scripts & book rights.' In August, Cecchi Gori made waves in Hollywood when it sued Martin Scorsese for not directing the long-gestating adaptation of Shusako Endo's novel, Silence. Scorsese's camp called the suit 'shocking' and 'absurd.'

Reprieve Looms for Australia's Nine Entertainment
The prospect of Nine Entertainment Co. being placed into administration has lessened after Goldman Sachs agreed to a debt-for-equity swap. The mezzanine funds managed by Goldman Sachs accepted a proposal from Nine's management which would see them receive 7.5% of the media company's stock and a 12.5% share of the upside from any future sale of Nine, in exchange for about $1B in debt. However the deal needs to be approved by Oaktree Capital and Apollo Global Management, the U.S. hedge funds that own about $2.3B in senior debt, which would be converted to a 92.5% equity stake. CVC Asia Pacific, which bought Nine from James Packer for $5.5B in 2007, would see its equity wiped out.- Don Groves.