Blue Water Film Festival announces 2012 Celebrity Judges Panel

Official Selections to have their films critiqued by leading industry professionals.

Port Huron, Michigan September 20, 2012 - The Blue Water Film Festival (BWFF) is proud to announce the esteemed members of the official Judges Panel for their 4th annual festival. Each judge brings an extensive resume in varied backgrounds such as the fields of acting, production, direction, animation and education; these acclaimed professionals bring a wealth of credentials and a respected career reputation to the table. The monetary prize awards given to the Michigan and Ontario filmmakers during the Blue Water Film Awards ceremony on Saturday, October 6, 2012 totals $2,500 and will be presented live on stage to the winners by the Judges Panel.

All 27 BWFF Official Selections that will be shown on that Saturday at the McMorran Place Theatre will be screened by the following group of industry leaders:

Stacey K. Black - Stacey K. Black is a two-time Emmy nominee for Outstanding Hairstyling for her work on the hit TV Series, "Glee," an accomplished musician, a television director, and a documentarian. Some of her other hairstyling credits include "The Stepfather," "Running With Scissors," "Major Crimes," "The Closer," "Nip/Tuck," "EZ Streets," "Providence," and "CSI:NY."

Stacey made the leap from Hairstylist to Director on "The Closer" starring Kyra Sedgwick. She directed the episodes "Last Woman Standing," and "Star Turn," which featured a song she wrote specifically for the episode, and she recently directed "Major Crimes," the episode titled "Cheaters Never Prosper." She has written and directed two short films, "Blue Moon," and "The Truth is Underrated," and is currently shooting a documentary centered on songwriters who have moved to Nashville, TN, to pursue their dreams in music. This passion project, "Send My Mail To Nashville," should make it's festival rounds in 2013.

Some of her soundtrack credits include "The Closer," "CSI:NY," and three songs on the feature film, "I Am Death," in which she appears as "Herself."

A native of Port Huron, Michigan, Stacey was raised by her loving and supportive mother, Martie Black, who lost her battle with cancer in 2002.

Kathleen Rose Perkins - Kathleen Rose Perkins is currently a Series Regular on Showtime's hit comedy series, "Episodes", starring opposite Matt LeBlanc. On film, she has a starring roles in upcoming feature films "Lamb of God" (written and directed by Diablo Cody in which Perkins stars with Octavia Spencer, Holly Hunter and Julianne Hough) as well as the UNTITLED NICOLE HOLOFCENER PROJECT (alongside Julia Louis Dreyfus and James Gandolfini). This past year, Perkins starred in "The Pact" (2012 Sundance Film Festival Selection) and "Cowgirls n' Angels" (alongside James Cromwell), both of which released theatrically in 2012. On Television, Perkins has recurred on a number of shows including "Tell Me You Love Me" (HBO), "Trust Me" (TNT), "NCIS: LA" (CBS), "Gary Unmarried" (CBS) and "Til Death" (FOX). Some notable guest appearances include turns on "American Horror Story" (FX), "Private Practice" (ABC), "NIP/TUCK" (FX), "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC), "Royal Pains" (USA) and "Lie To Me" (FOX). Kathleen is a native of New Baltimore, Michigan.

John Webber - John Webber began his animation career with Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1994 when he started in the clean-up department on the "Pines of Rome" sequence in Fantasia 2000. He worked with some of the top Supervising Animators on "Pocahontas" and "Hercules" and then moved to Disney's Orlando facility where he animated on the character of "Mushu" in "Mulan". John followed things up with animating on lead characters for "John Henry", Lilo in "Lilo And Stitch" and Kenai in "Brother Bear". He completed his digital training with Disney when the Orlando facility was shuttered and became a founding partner in a full-service animation studio called, "Project Firefly". "Firefly" was responsible for completing over 20% of the CURIOUS GEORGE movie among other client-based projects. After three years at Firefly, John worked for several months as a digital animation lab assistant with Full Sail University before joining his current position among the faculty at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) as an animation professor. John is a native of St. Clair, Michigan.

Mike White - Often mistaken for the ginger screenwriter/actor of the same name, Mike White is noted as a frequent contributor to publications such as "CinemaScope," "Paracinema," Detroit's "Metro Times" and Detour-Mag.com. White was featured in the documentaries "David Goodis: To a Pulp" and "The People Vs. George Lucas." He authored "Impossibly Funky: A Cashiers du Cinemart Collection" and weekly co-hosts "The Projection Booth" podcast.

"One of the most exciting aspects of this year is the broad and unique judges' panel we are providing for the filmmakers," states BWFF Judge Concierge Ryan Charron. "This allows them the opportunity to receive feedback from accomplished individuals with professionally diverse backgrounds who have had amazing careers in the film industry."
This year, comedian/actress and Michigan native, Loni Love (E Nework's "Chelsea Lately", Tru TV's "World's Dumbest..." and VH1's "I Love the '70s/'80s/'90s"), will kick off the BWFF with a live comedy performance at McMorran Place Theatre featuring her candid and outspoken stand-up on Friday, Oct. 5, 2012. Tickets ($10 in advance and $15 at the door) are on sale now at bluewaterfilmfestival.com, ticketmaster.com and the McMorran Box Office.

The 27 Michigan and Canadian-made Official Selections of the BWFF will be showcased at McMorran Place Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012.

Visit www.bluewaterfilmfestival.com for more information.