“We’ve been calling it a cyber feminist goose chase”: Jazmin Jones and Olivia McKayla Ross on Seeking Mavis Beacon at London Film Festival 2024

With her radiant smile and business-casual attire, Mavis Beacon evokes a sense of nostalgia for anyone who learned to type in the 90s or early 2000s. Though typing lessons have largely become a thing of the past, she remains one of the most recognisable women in technology. Yet, the most surprising truth about Mavis Beacon – the face of the bestselling software that taught millions to type – is that she never existed.

Seeking Mavis Beacon, directed by Jazmin Jones and produced by Olivia McKayla Ross, documents the pair’s six-year quest to find Haitian-born model Renée L’Espérance, who served as the first face of Mavis Beacon before vanishing from public view. Their journey spans spiritual discoveries, conversations with Mavis Beacon’s creators and cross-country road trips where cultural critique meets DIY detective work. In tracing the legacy of “the Aunt Jemima of technology”, Jones and Ross delve into Beacon’s presence in collective memory, raising critical questions about representation, identity and the significance of one’s likeness in the age of artificial intelligence.

Ahead of the film’s premiere at the London Film Festival, Jones and Ross have spoken with The Upcoming about their creative influences, why their journey is better understood as a wellness check on L’Esperance and the affirmations-driven typing game they created as a tribute to Mavis Beacon’s legacy.

Christina Yang

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the London Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for Seeking Mavis Beacon here: