Following a pair of self-proclaimed “e-girl detectives” as they probe the disappearance of a cultural icon, Seeking Mavis Beacon is an exuberant neon noir for our very online age.

Like millions of millennials, filmmaker Jazmin Jones first mastered a keyboard under the tutelage of Mavis Beacon, frontwoman for one of the best-selling software products of the early digital era. But, as she and many of her peers failed to realize at the time, the radiant Black woman leading those typing lessons was in fact a fictional creation, effectively a tech world analogue to Uncle Ben or Aunt Jemima. The real person who had lent her likeness to the game was a Haitian American named Renée L'Espérance who, sometime in the mid-90s, abruptly vanished from the public eye. In Seeking Mavis Beacon, Jazmin partners with Gen Z memory artist Olivia McKayla Ross with the goal of locating L'Espérance and celebrating her pioneering legacy.

Suffused with internet memes and enriched by contributors including Glitch Feminism author Legacy Russell and multimedia griot Mandy Harris Williams, the resulting investigation is a vibrantly inventive, metatextual reflection on representation, digital selfhood and the ethical pitfalls of searching for someone who may not wish to be found.

- Film note by Julian Carrington, For Viola Curator

The screening will be followed by a lively conversation with director Jazmin Jones and co-collaborator Olivia McKayla Ross, moderated by Toronto-based critic and curator Saffron Maeve.

While this screening is presented free of charge, please consider a donation of $10 in recognition of the value of the work presented, and in honour of Viola Desmond, featured on the $10 banknote, at checkout. Half the proceeds will be shared directly with the filmmakers, who also receive screening fees.

For Viola: Hot Docs' screening series centering Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC)-led stories and filmmakers, named in honour of Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond. This series seeks to affirm Hot Docs as a space of inclusion for BIPOC creators and audience members alike. In order to minimize barriers to audience participation, all screenings in this series are free of charge.

For Viola is supported by