Seeking Mavis Beacon (dir. Jazmin Jones) x DOXA 2024. (via The Independent)
Two women investigate the disappearance of the iconic real-life model behind the popular 1980s educational software while raising pertinent issues concerning our relationship to technology. Jones and her friend, Carribean-American video artist Olivia McKayla Ross, create their own portrait of their image of "Mavis Beacon" while blending the facts they uncover with their own fictional interpretations. Their exercise feels like an experimental detour interrogating our cultural fascinations (like true crime or conspiratorial fare) as they figure out who Renee L’Esperance, a Haitian immigrant model, perfume saleswoman, and the face behind Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, really is and why she vanished from public life entirely.
Screening as part of the 2024 DOXA Documentary Film Festival at The Cinematheque on May 12.