Highbridge Film Festival 2025 Judges Panel

Director, Writer, Digital Effects Artist
Barry CookBarry Cook is an award-winning director and visual effects artist best known for his works with Disney’s Mulan, Tron, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. Barry has also worked with Aardman Animations co-directing Arthur Christmas and directed Walking with Dinosaurs from 20th Century Fox and BBC Earth. Barry also developed the feature film properties My Peoples for Disney and Mean Margaret for Starz Entertainment.
Barry has also been a screenwriter and story director with the ‘Jesus Film Project’ for their animated short film projects My Last Day, Legion, and Chosen Witness. Most recently he has become a writer publishing a novella, The Happy Place, and his first children’s book The Gumdrop Ghost.

Actress
Maria Canals BarreraMaria Canals Barrera is an award-winning actress of screen and stage, best known for her starring role in Disney’s The Wizards of Waverly Place and many other Disney Originals. A 2002 Alma Award-winner for her role in the television series Brothers Garcia, Maria has starred in the ABC’s Cristela, The Tony Danza Show on NBC, and roles fro Telemundo and Univision series. More recently recurring on The Morning Show on AppleTV+ and Kenan on NBC, other notable roles include Lopez vs. Lopez, The Big Bang Theory, Last Man Standing, Fuller House, George Lopez, and the PBS series American Family. She has also appeared in feature films for major studios. She voices "Hawkgirl" in The Justice League, and voices recurring roles in many other animated series. She has been recognized with an Ovation Award nomination for her stage performance in Changes of the Heart, and has appeared in several stage roles including The House of Blue Leaves and The Glass Menagerie.

Actor
David BarreraDavid Barrera is an award-winning veteran film and television actor with over one hundred film and television credits including Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix, Castle, The Big Bang Theory, CSI: Miami, The Closer, N.C.I.S., Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, The West Wing, and 24 for which he received an ALMA Award nomination. Most recently, David has been seen in recurring roles on critically acclaimed shows like Bosch, What/If with Renée Zellweger, Hulu's Chance opposite Hugh Laurie, HBO's Emmy Nominated Generation Kill and Netflix record breaking Monster: The Jefferey Dahmer Story. David’s film career includes Universal's Evan Almighty, starring Steve Carrell, The United States of Leeland, starring Don Cheadle, and No Way Back with Russell Crowe.
2025 Sponsors
