José Lourenço

José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço is a writer and filmmaker who lives in Toronto with his adult wife, two small daughters, and an even smaller puppy who is practically perfect in every way. He once ate three entire carrots in a sitting. His feature writing/directing debut YOUNG WERTHER premiered in the Special Presentations section of TIFF 2024, where it was nominated for the DGC Jean-Marc Vallée Discovery award and subsequently acquired for theatrical distribution by Lionsgate, VVS, and dozens of international distributors. A contemporary adaptation of the Goethe novel produced by Wildling Pictures, YOUNG WERTHER stars Douglas Booth, Alison Pill, Iris Apatow, Patrick J. Adams and Amrit Kaur. His most recent short film, ROMANCE LANGUAGE, won a BravoFACT production award, premiered at Palm Springs, jogged along from festival to festival, then sprinted online as a Vimeo Staff Pick. Other recent projects include the feature screenplay MASSEY ’53 for Rhombus Films, a feature screenplay for Simon Kinberg's Genre Pictures at Fox, teleplays for the quirky Canadian Screen Award-winning true crime series FARM CRIME, and a rotating bookshelf for his youngest daughter’s room comprised of mostly IKEA Lazy Susans. Speaking of children and books: with illustrator James Braithwaite he co-created and wrote the children’s book series BILLIE. The first Billie book launches in Spring 2025 and the second follows in Spring 2026. The series will be published by Tundra / Penguin Random House. His narrative work has been nominated for a Juno Award (Music Video of the Year), a Canadian Screen Award, and an International Emmy. He has directed commercials for Audi, Acura, PepsiCo, and Cineplex. As a creative consultant he has collaborated on broadcast and online campaigns for brands including Apple, Google, Nike, Mercedes, McDonald’s, Samsung, the NBA and the NFL. Oh, and he also won the Butter Tart competition at Canada’s Royal Winter Fair in 2018, taking home both the Judge’s Choice ribbon and the enmity of grandmothers from all across the nation.