Founder, Luminalia
- Studied literature and cultural studies at Goldsmiths, University of London
- Launched Luminalia in January 2025
Priante launched Luminalia — a sales company dedicated to working with underrepresented countries — at the start of this year, having discovered his passion for world cinema while studying at Goldsmiths in London. “Sales was not really on the radar,” he recalls of this period.
However, while working in the industry sections of festivals including Rotterdam and Venice, he met an array of sales agents, among them Deckert Distribution CEO Liselot Verbrugge and Coproduction Office founder Philippe Bober.
“I realised that sales and acquisitions could be way more creative and dynamic work than how it appeared at the beginning,” says Priante, who worked briefly at both companies. “Especially when it comes to smaller companies, there are no rules. Unpredictability is the key.”
Priante is aiming to handle four to five films a year at Luminalia and has already enjoyed festival and sales success with titles such as Bangladeshi drama Saba, directed by Maksud Hossain, and Kyrgyzstan drama Deal At The Border, directed by Dastan Zhapar Ryskeldi.
“There is no standard model, each film has to be dealt with differently,” Priante says. “You are alone in the sea, but that is also the exciting thing.”
As he prepares for Cannes, Priante plans to attend as many of the major markets and festivals as he can. “The big ones are crazy hectic and that’s why I am trying to cover more smaller festivals and events too,” he says. “People are a bit more relaxed [at those events] and it is easier to connect and better understand what they are looking for.”
Contact: Tommasso Priante
No comments yet