Release Date – 9th May 2025, Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 42 minutes, Director – Jazmin Jones
Friends Jazmin Jones and Olivia McKayla Ross search for the mysterious and inspiring Black woman who taught a generation to type in the game Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing.
Seeking Mavis Beacon is one of those rare films where I started to get truly excited about what the filmmakers will do next. There’s a unique voice to it that stems from the youth of director Jazmin Jones and her friend Olivia McKayla Ross – one of the pair celebrates their 21st birthday in the film. Not just in the documentary’s use of TikTok videos to break up scenes but in the general nature of the film as a whole. There’s a spark which appears to lean towards a young target audience which gives the film a very likable personality. One which demonstrates a new, fresh, modern generation of filmmaking talent which I couldn’t help but be excited by.
The pair are searching for the face, both on the cover and in the game, of PC game Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. Described as “the Aunt Jemima of technology” it’s claimed that she helped build an entire generation of Americans relationships with computers. Yet, the key question playing out is “not only ‘who is Mavis Beacon’, but ‘why is she Black?'” The investigation is serious yet relaxed to create a welcoming feeling to a film that only occasionally slips into the feeling of ‘they’re searching for a person on the front cover of a video game’.
Whilst searching for the woman who portrayed Mavis Jones and Ross delve into just what seeing such a figure in a game like this meant to a whole generation of people of colour, and indeed how the figure featured came to be Mavis Beacon. While one or two street interviews feel like slight steps aside for the most part the various points that arise as part of the search feel well-linked and help to expand the central mystery and make for a wider-ranging film which feels both personally investigative for the filmmakers whilst also contributing to the main points at hand. In general this begins as a personal piece which eventually grows into something bigger, while still maintaining that individual note for those leading the film.
As a whole Seeking Mavis Beacon comes across as an impressive film. One which feels as if it could so easily feel slight or overstretched, but manages to lead its narrative in enough ways for it to maintain interest in the central investigation and the handful of branches linked to it. Leaning partly into our relationship with technology and the human factors that are a part of it – “would my relationship with computers have been as trusting if Mavis hadn’t been there?” sets off an early thread relating to just why this investigation is happening in the first place and why it matters to those embarking on it. There’s a spark to each thread, each treated with a seriousness which emphasises the effect that the events playing out have personally for Jones and Ross and just what past events meant for people of colour and Mavis Beacon herself.
Fuelled by a relaxed and modern personality which announces a new, young generation of filmmaking talent, Seeking Mavis Beacon’s seriousness makes for a welcoming documentary which expands its central search with equally engaging and personal branches all contributing to the central investigation.
Just A Little Bit Random 