Colin Systma

Colin Sytsma owns and operates Wood Grain Media, a documentary film company with a focus on Cinema Verite. He has been an award-winning documentarian for the past decade and a gifted storyteller for far longer. His filmmaking strives to contribute to the universal good and conservation of our world. A native of Milwaukee, he worked on the Emmy-nominated documentary, As Goes Janesville. He produced Wisconsin’s Mining Standoff for Al Jazeera English’s Television show Fault Lines and co-directed the feature-length documentary From Mass to the Mountain on drought and deforestation in Panama. Apart from his cinematography work on Out of Reach, he is also the director of photography on When Claude Got Shot, an Independent Television Service (ITVS) production documenting gun violence in Milwaukee. In 2018 he received a Brico Forward Fund award from the Milwaukee Film Festival to finish his Stolen Apes film, which subsequently won awards in Ireland and Croatia. Colin was a cinematographer on Messwood, a film about a combined high school football team between two largely segregated neighborhoods.

Courses Taught:

• Workshop: Julie Justice Film Editing (Summer 2022)