about

Meet a filmmaker who has been classified as an “alien of extraordinary ability” by U.S. Immigration - that’s me. UPDATE: I’ve now got a  green card! Though not sure if that makes me human or alien, now… but who cares, I look great in martian green. Back to awkwardly speaking in third person—

Lorena Lourenço is an award-winning director, writer and producer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She’s a USC School of Cinematic Arts alum and a Film Independent Episodic Directing Fellow. She is passionate about telling stories from marginalized perspectives that highlight cultural identity, the immigrant experience, queer joy and women’s strength (though she barely works out.)

Her short Muy Gay Too Mexicano has been selected for competition at Outfest, Inside Out, LALIFF,  and Out on Film, amongst others and is streaming on HBOmax.  Her pilot Sula and I was selected for the Orchard Project’s episodic lab and is being produced by Mucho Más Media.  Her last two short films Last Rights and Stitched are going through their festival run, with the latter winning a best short award.

The animated music video she’s directed for MTV for Anitta’s performance of Envolver has hit 169k views. Yas Kween, the webseries she directed starring Joy Sunday (Wednesday) and Salina Estitties (the real  RuPaul’s Drag Race S15 Miss Congeniality), is available to stream on Revry.  Finally, the internationally award-winning short she wrote, directed and edited, titled Joy, (and also starring Joy Sunday) investigates the experiences of an immigrant woman of color in Trump’s America. 

Most recently, she’s been selected for a development sprint with Sony Pictures and The Orchard Project and is in development for her directorial debut indie feature What Ever Happened to Rosa Elena?, which is a queer telenovela horror comedy. The film has been selected for the NALIP Media Market as well as the Inside Out Film Finance Forum.

Hit me up for jokes and aesthetically pleasing ways to film the take down of our systems of oppression ;)

If you’d like to find me on Alliance of Women Directors: AWD