Simone Urdl and Jennifer Weiss are established and well-respected Toronto-based producers, and co-founders/principles of The Film Farm. They have over 20 years experience guiding projects through script development, production, post-production, promotion and launch, as well as extensive knowledge of Canadian and international financing and coproductions. Simone and Jennifer have built a reputation for identifying and nurturing new and established creative talent, and producing projects with vision and integrity, including such acclaimed films as the Academy Award© nominated/Golden Globe winning Away From Her (Sarah Polley), starring Julie Christie; Brian De Palma’s Redacted, winner of the Silver Bear at the Venice Film Festival; Atom Egoyan’s Adoration starring Scott Speedman and Arsinée Khanjian, The Captive starring Ryan Reynolds and Rosario Dawson, both of which premiered in Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival and Guest of Honour starring David Thewlis, Laysla De Oliveria and Luke Wilson which had its world premiere in Competition at Venice, 2019. They are also Coproducers of Chloe (also Egoyan) starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried, produced for The Montecito Picture Company and Studio Canal. They also are the producers of Darlene Naponse’s Falls Around Her, starring Tantoo Cardinal which premiered at TIFF and was the opening night film at ImagineNATIVE where it won the Audience Award.
At The Film Farm they are currently wrapping two films: The Last Letter From Your Lover, based on the book by Jojo Moyes which The Film Farm optioned, directed by Augustine Frizzell, starring Felicity Jones, Callum Turner, Joe Alwyn, Nabhaan Rizwan and Shailene Woodley, produced with Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin of Blueprint Pictures, with Studio Canal and Netflix; and Bent Hamer’s The Middle Man, a Norway, Canada, and Germany coproduction starring Pål Sverre Hagen, Tuva Novotny, Don McKellar, Rossif Sutherland and Paul Gross.
SIMONE URDL
Shortly after graduating from the film programme at Queens University, Kingston, Simone Urdl began her career at Atom Egoyan’s Ego Film Arts where she was involved in the productions of Egoyan’s films Calendar, Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter before becoming an associate producer on Ararat. Simone produced her first feature, Jack & Jill, with Jennifer Weiss which led to the formation of their production company The Film Farm. Over their more than 20 years, The Film Farm has produced an eclectic mixture of award-winning films with both established and emerging directors.
While developing and producing films, Simone also worked as the VP of Acquisitions for The Brightstar Group where she was responsible for licensing North American titles for theatrical, home video and television in South Korea. She then also teamed up with Atom Egoyan and Hussain Amarshi to develop and manage Camera Bar and Cinema, an innovative ahead-of-its-time bar, gallery and cinema space in the West Queen West neighbourhood in Toronto. At the same time, Simone and Jennifer were asked by the Toronto International Festival Group to create and manage the TIFF Talent Lab which they did for the Lab’s first three years.
Over the years, The Film Farm has been home to many of the rescue dogs that Simone fosters.
JENNIFER WEISS
Shortly after graduating from University of Toronto, with a degree in Political Science, Jennifer co-founded The Film Farm Inc. with partner Simone Urdl. Their mandate was to work with the best and brightest in Canadian cinema, both established and emerging talent with a distinct and original vision. Their focus on producing distinctly Canadian stories for domestic and international audiences gained recognition with award-winning films and festival recognition. They soon expanded into the global marketplace with international filmmakers, co-productions and world-wide distributors, while keeping themselves solidly planted in Canada and proudly part of the domestic film industry.
Throughout her career, Jennifer has repeatedly worked with filmmakers such as Sarah Polley, Atom Egoyan, Brian DePalma and recently Darlene Naponse. Over 25 years, the various films have competed and premiered at top festivals including Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice and of course our hometown TIFF. Jennifer continues to produce with an artistic integrity bringing fresh stories to audiences around the world.