Neon released the official trailer for ‘Seeking Mavis Beacon,’ a documentary film directed by Jazmin Jones. The film follows investigators Jones (Director) and Olivia McKayla Ross (Associate Producer) on their search to find Renée L’Esperance, the Haitian model for Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, a software program developed in the 1980s. Watch the trailer above.
According to Neon, the logline for Seeking Mavis Beacon is:
The most recognizable woman in technology lives in our collective imagination. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing taught millions globally, but the software’s Haitian-born cover model vanished decades ago. Two DIY detectives search for the model while posing questions about identity and artificial intelligence.
What Ever Happened to Mavis Beacon?
That guiding question propels two intrepid electronic sleuths—Jazmin and Olivia—who dive into the cosmos as they hunt for the woman of Haitian descent who became the face of the 1980s-era popular educational software Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Through dynamic “desktop cinema,” observational footage, and interviews with artists, writers, and software designers—the investigation lifts the veil on how Mavis’s persona came to be. While highlighting ethical questions regarding representation—the film slowly becomes a celebration of glitch art’s legacy as a means for underrepresented people to deconstruct and reclaim notions of Queerness and Racialization. A spellbinding cyberspace adventure—Jazmin Renée Jones’s inquisitive directorial debut expands ideas around feminism and digital selfdom—while also portraying the importance of tender, healing friendship in a complex world.
Produced by Neon and Guetty Felin, who founded BelleMoon Productions, the film was also co-produced by Olivia McKayla Ross.
The film premiered in the NEXT category at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and will now be released in select theaters across the United States on August 30, 2024.
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