Seeking Mavis Beacon: Outdoor Film Screening

Description

Join School for Poetic Computation for an outdoor screening in Brooklyn, NY. As the sun sets and the evening settles in, experience this thought-provoking documentary in the open air, surrounded by community. Mavis Beacon taught a generation to type, yet she was never physically there. A face on a box, a name without a body, a guide through the keyboard who was herself a fabrication. Seeking Mavis Beacon (2024) traces the ghost of this digital icon—unraveling the story of a missing woman, a manufactured identity, and the quiet erasures embedded in technology. SFPC is excited to partner with Alfreda’s Cinema for this special outdoor screening of this format-defying documentary. Co-directed by SFPC alumni Jazmin Jones and Olivia Ross, the documentary was first conceived at an SFPC event in 2019—making this gathering a full-circle moment of reflection and reconnection. Following the screening, stick around for a panel discussion exploring the film’s critical themes: the anthropomorphization of technology, the erasure and consumption of minoritized bodies in the tech industry, and the ways we shape and are shaped by digital culture. This event is free or pay-what-you-can. All who wish to take part in the conversation are welcome to attend with RSVP.