Founded in 2015, Full Spectrum Features (FSF) seeks to make films differently and works to tell underrepresented stories in deeply impactful ways. Educational impact has always been foundational to crafting our work. In thinking about non-traditional distribution avenues to share this history, FSF explored K-12 classrooms and film spaces, which proved themselves a natural fit. Considering when people start forming their opinions about history, identity, representation, belonging, the K-12 space felt like a strong starting place for our work to begin. In addition to the classroom being a catalyzing space for emerging perspectives about communities, there is also a deeply personal connection to our work.
Being a primarily BIPOC, LGBTQ+ led organization, a lack of diverse representation in the media is a reality that our team grapples with on a personal level. We were not seeing ourselves, our families, nor our communities on big Hollywood screens or small projected screens in classrooms and we wanted to change that. This led to the development of Full Spectrum Education (FSE), a division of FSF dedicated to social impact through community-guided storytelling, learning, and research.
FSE’s inaugural project, The Orange Story (2017), launched our trilogy on Japanese American incarceration history. It was developed with community members and leading scholars who helped tell the story of Japanese American forced removal during World War II.
When the pandemic brought production opportunities to a halt, we began holding our own teacher training sessions, allowing us to connect with educators across the United States. As of today, we have completed the second installment of our film series, Resettlement: Chicago Story (2023), and are set to premiere the third and final part, Reckoning with Redress, in 2026. While much has changed for our team, our values have not.
