Millennials, you may want to sit down for this one
Nearly 40 years ago, Mavis Beacon taught an entire generation how to type with her popular Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing series.
In a pre-internet world that revolved around Carmen Sandiego, she was the Queen of keyboards who helped define the golden age of educational software in schools.
And then she went missing.
What started as a culture-shifting movement in education had devolved into an unsolved mystery about a pop culture phenomenon who isn’t a real person.
At some point, we all grow up and realize Santa Claus isn’t real but THIS hit different because Mavis Beacon was presented as a real person who lived in the hearts, minds, and eager fingers of kids across the world.
Knowing this, Director Jazmin Jones and Associate Producer Olivia McKayla Ross set out to find Renee L’esperance–the Haitian model featured as the famed typing instructor in 1987.
In Seeking Mavis Beacon, the “E-Girl Detectives” search for L’esperance who was paid only $500 for her image despite the software selling over 10 million copies worldwide.
Source: Neon
According to the press release, Jazmine and Olivia use “unconventional investigative methods” while searching online and across the country to “preserve a piece of tech history and recenter Renee’s voice.”
“As they come-of-age and come closer to uncovering the truth, Olivia and Jazmin are forced to
figure out the limitations of their own morality,” per the official synopsis.
Check out the trailer below:
“In my attempt to uplift the legacy of an unsung Black historical figure, I’d like to acknowledge all of the invisible labor that went into the making of this project,” said Jones, who reveals the Doc took 5 years and 3 laptops to make, in a statement.
“This film is not only an offering for Mavis Beacon and the women who lent their likeness to her character, but an expression of gratitude to all of the unseen bodies who make our technology possible.”
Seeking Mavis Beacon opens in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago on Sept. 6 and select cities Sept. 13.