Colin Sytsma - Award-winning documentarian, director & 3X Emmy winning cinematographer. Owner of Wood Grain Media.
2025 Emmy Winner
Frontline PBS: Two American Families 1991-2024
Sytsma served as the director of photography for the latest PBS Frontline segment, *Two American Families*, which won the 2024 Best TV Feature Documentary award from the International Documentary Association and received a National News & Doc Emmy Award for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary.
Emmy Winner
When Claude Got Shot
Sytsma served as the Director of Photography for When Claude Got Shot, which earned a 2022 Emmy Award for Outstanding Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. The film was executive produced by Snoop Dogg and aired as part of PBS’s Independent Lens series.
Colin Sytsma’s true crime Director of Photography work with Very Local
NBCLX Contributor
Justin Small was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder at the age of 23. Only months later, he died by suicide. Now his brother has joined others in his community of Milwaukee fighting to reduce the stigma of mental illness in the Black community and improve access to help. NBCLX contributors Colin Sytsma and Justin Goodrum explore the cultural and historical reasons why mental help is so often lacking in the Black community.
The Stolen Apes Film Series
Sytsma is directing a short film series on the illegal great ape trafficking trade. So the far the series won multiple awards and has been screened across the world.
Stolen Apes - Buanoi
The second film of the Stolen Apes film series focuses on the only gorilla in Thailand and how she was trafficked 35 years ago.
Stolen Apes - Buanoi receives an honorable mention at the London Eco Film Festival
The film received an honorable mention at the London Eco Film Festival in 2021. See the full interview with director here!
Pongo the Stolen Orangutan: How law can heal
This short animation highlights the cost of poaching an Orangutan and how we can use law to hold those who do harm to the environment accountable for their actions.
Designed and animated by Jax Schwanke and written by Jacob Phelps.
