Technology Telling Stories: New Dimensions in Film—Seeking Mavis Beacon and Post-Screening Conversation with Jazmin Renée Jones
- Wed, May 15, 2024
- 7 pm - 10 pm PT
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Cinemark Baldwin Hills Crenshaw
4020 Marlton Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90008
Technology Telling Stories: New Dimensions in Film is a series of fresh new releases from the latest Sundance Film Festival including Dìdi (弟弟), Eno, and Seeking Mavis Beacon. The storytellers behind these films find innovative approaches of exploring the ways technology shapes our lives and the narratives we tell—about ourselves, each other, and the world. These public screenings take place across Los Angeles and feature post-screening conversations.
The Los Angeles premiere of Seeking Mavis Beacon will be followed by a conversation with Jazmin Renée Jones and special guests.
Seeking Mavis Beacon
Directed by Jazmin Renée Jones, 102 minutes
Launched in the late 1980s, educational software Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing taught millions globally, but the program’s Haitian-born cover model vanished decades ago. Two DIY investigators search for the unsung cultural icon, while questioning notions of digital security, AI, and Black representation in the digital realm.
Jazmin Renée Jones’ inventive directorial debut boldly embraces outspoken questioning. Jones turns the camera onto herself and co-investigator Olivia McKayla Ross, foregrounding their investigatory process and supportive friendship. While unraveling the complex narrative of Mavis Beacon, they uplift the pioneering of Black women in technology and self-reflect on their own methodologies in the process. Jones celebrates diverse ways of embodying knowledge by creatively connecting various sources of information. Observational footage of herself and Ross sit alongside interviews, memes, and insights from activists and artists. The meaning of each clip is made richer by Jones’ astute and witty layering, often incorporating the digital interface of a desktop. The dynamic investigation also reveals questions about documentary practice, the incompleteness of archives, and the right to exist on one’s own terms. Jones’ vision is vibrant, full of curiosity, and refreshingly openhearted.
All education and outreach programs at LACMA are underwritten by the LACMA Education Fund and are supported in part by the Judy and Bernard Briskin Family Foundation, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Endowment Fund for Arts Education, Alfred E. Mann Charities, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Gloria Ricci Lothrop, the Flora L. Thornton Foundation, U.S. Bank, and The Yabuki Family Foundation.
Image from Seeking Mavis Beacon courtesy of writer/director Jazmine Jones and NEON.
All education and outreach programs at LACMA are underwritten by the LACMA Education Fund and are supported in part by the Judy and Bernard Briskin Family Foundation, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Endowment Fund for Arts Education, Alfred E. Mann Charities, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Gloria Ricci Lothrop, the Flora L. Thornton Foundation, U.S. Bank, and The Yabuki Family Foundation.
Image from Seeking Mavis Beacon courtesy of writer/director Jazmine Jones and NEON.