Cynthia Wade (Director/ producer/ cinematographer) and Matthew Syrett (Producer) - "Freeheld"

Cynthia Wade is a documentary filmmaker based in NYC. She received a BA Cum Laude from Smith College and an MA in Documentary Film Production from Stanford University. Wade has been the Director of Photography for such popular companies as PBS, HBO/Cinemax, Bravo, AMC, MTV, A&E, Discovery, TNT, Oxygen, LOGO and The History Channel. She was the principal verite cinematographer and co-producer for the 1998 PBS documentary “Taken In”, which won a DuPont-Columbia Award for Excellence in Journalism. In 1999 she directed the Cinemax “Reel” Life documentary “Grist For The Mill.” In 2007, Wade's short documentary “Freeheld” won a Special Jury-Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, which is also in the running for the Oscar short-list, and her HBO documentary “Shelter Dogs” was broadcast in seven countries.

Matthew Syrett is the director of technical projects at Xceed in Manhattan and co-produced Wade's 2007 award-winning documentary “Freeheld.” Syrett graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and received a master's degree in Anthropology from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Syrett and Wade were married on Sept. 18th 1999. Wade now runs a video production company and teaches advanced digital cinematography at the New School.