José Lourenço, sometimes credited as José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço, is a Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto, Ontario, whose debut feature film Young Werther premiered in 2024.
[1] Born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, he lived Halifax, Edmonton and Vancouver Island in childhood.
[2] He subsequently moved to Toronto, where he was a singer and guitarist in the indie rock band Spitfires & Mayflowers,[3] a writer for the Toronto Star,[1] and a television writer for MuchMusic and CBC Television productions such as The Hour, the MuchMusic Video Awards and Farm Crime.
[1] He subsequently directed music videos and short films, receiving a Juno Award nomination for Video of the Year for The Rural Alberta Advantage's "Stamp" at the Juno Awards of 2012,[4] and a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Program or Series, Fiction Produced for Digital Media for What Are the Sevens?
Young Werther premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival,[5] before going into commercial release in January 2025.