Premiering at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, director Jazmin Jones and collaborator Olivia McKayla Ross’ Seeking Mavis Beacon attempts to search for the most recognizable woman in technology lives in our collective imagination. Mavis Beacon (or, more accurately, the woman who first portrayed her), is the virtual instructor who led one of the most popular learning games of all time, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Ahead of a release from NEON starting on August 30 at IFC Center, the first trailer has now arrived.
Lena Wilson said in their Sundance review, “Seeking Mavis Beacon is a more artistic and conceptual film than investigative, though Jones and Ross uncover some intriguing context about Renée L’Espérance, the model who first portrayed Beacon. As the game’s first face––and thus the blueprint for Mavis, who was henceforth a Black, female character––L’Espérance played a key role in the birth of the blockbuster game. But what does it mean to surrender your image to the digital world, and what does Mavis Beacon say about the cultural legacy of Black women in tech? If only this documentary spent more time clearly answering those questions, less on behind-the-scenes musings.”
See the trailer below.