In one egregious image, the left hand of the documentary’s subject Jennifer Pan is particularly mangled, while another image shows a strange gap in her cheek. Netflix has yet to acknowledge the report, but the images show clear signs of manipulation and were never labeled as AI-generated.

The AI may be generating the imagery based on real photos of Pan, as PetaPixel suggested. However, the resulting output may be interpreted as being prejudicial instead of presenting the facts of the case without bias.

A Canadian court of appeal ordered Pan’s retrial because the trial judge didn’t present the jury with enough options, the CBC reported.

One critic, journalist Karen K. HO, said that the Netflix documentary is an example of the “true crime industrial complex” catering to an “all-consuming and endless” appetite for violent content. Netflix’s potential use of AI manipulated imagery as a storytelling tool may reinforce that argument.

Regulators in the US, Europe and elsewhere have enacted laws on the use of AI, but so far there appears to be no specific laws governing the use of AI images or video in documentaries or other content.

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Gunpowder & Sky has produced a number of well-known documentaries, such as 69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez and Everybody’s Everything, about deceased rapper Lil Peep. The Documentary Group’s behind shows like Amend: The Fight for America and The Deep End, a series focusing on spiritual wellness guru Teal Swan.

As for behind-the-camera talent, the film’s being directed by Tommy Avallone, who recently helmed the Barney docuseries I Love You, You Hate Me and The Bill Murray Stories: Life Lessons from a Mythical Man. The film will feature the social media site’s founders Tom Anderson (yes, that Tom) and Chris DeWolfe, in addition to a spate of celebrities who got their start on the platform.

Myspace was the social media site to beat before it was, well, beat by Facebook. The platform launched in 2003 and set the world on fire, becoming an important music promotional tool long before Bandcamp, Spotify and even YouTube. There was a guy named Tom who everyone was chums with. Folks agonized over which real-life friends to put in their list of top eight digital friends. There were some truly grody wallpaper options for your page, and the idea of an Internet troll wasn’t really a thing yet. It was a simpler time.

Gunpowder & Sky CEO Van Toffler said the documentary is a no-brainer for folks of a certain age bracket, noting that his colleagues at the time “were all obsessed with Myspace,” going on to say “without Myspace there’s no TikTok, no Facebook, no YouTube, no Instagram, no social media.”

One must understand that before Facebook, people just expected social media sites to enjoy a few months or even years in the sun before making way for the next big thing. That’s the way it was with Myspace, Friendster, SixDegrees, Classmates and all the rest. Then along came Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, beginning the era of the “too big to fail” social media platform. Recent years have finally shown cracks in the armor of these old-school giants, with Twitter’s stark drop from relevance and generational shifts from Facebook to platforms like TikTok. In other words, massive sea changes of the kind that sank Myspace are no longer unthinkable.

There’s no release date for the Myspace documentary, nor has there been an announcement if it would run in theaters or just on a streaming platform. We'll have to play the waiting game for a while longer.

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Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds tracks the pioneering auteur during the development of Death Stranding while providing a rare glimpse into his creative process as he launched his studio, Kojima Productions. The film also includes “shots from the early days of our independent studio, memories from my childhood and my creative journey,” as the designer said. The film strives to capture the artistic side of gaming, which Kojima embodies as well as anyone.

The documentary announcement follows the official reveal of Kojima’s next game, OD. Although we don’t know much about it yet, its trailer blends a cinematic art style with horror, aligning with previous leaks. Director and comedian Jordan Peele is even involved. Xbox Game Studios is publishing the title, which Kojima has said will lean heavily on Microsoft’s cloud technology.

“Video gaming is an art,” director Guillermo del Toro summarizes in the documentary trailer (below) about the Metal Gear creator. “But the only person in charge of the orchestra is the auteur.”

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It's no spoiler to say that "Mavis Beacon" didn't really exist – she was a marketing idea crafted by a group of white dudes from Silicon Valley. But the program's cover star was real: Her name was Renee L'Esperance, a Haitian model who was discovered while working at Saks Fifth Avenue in Los Angeles. After her image helped make Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing a success, she retreated from the spotlight, reportedly heading back to retire in the Caribbean.

The documentary's director and writer, Jazmin Jones, as well as her collaborator, Olivia McKayla Ross, start with those basic details and set out to find L'Esperance like a pair of digital detectives. From a home base in a rundown Bay Area office – surrounded by tech ephemera, a variety of art pieces and images of influential black women – they lay out L'Esperance's reported timeline, follow leads and even host a spiritual ceremony to try and connect with the model.

I won't say if the pair actually end up finding L'Esperance because it's the journey that makes Seeking Mavis Beacon such a joy to watch. Jones and Ross both grew up with the typing program and felt a kinship toward the character of Mavis Beacon. It was the first program to prominently feature a Black woman on the cover (a move that reportedly caused some suppliers to cut their orders), so it made the technology world seem like somewhere young Black women could actually fit in. Beacon's digital hands also appear on-screen, as if she's gently guiding your fingers to the correct letters and positioning.

To help uncover more details about the whereabouts of Mavis Beacon, Jones and Ross set up a hotline and website for anyone to submit clues. Some of those calls are featured in the film, and they make it clear that her digital presence inspired many people. The film opens with references to Beacon throughout culture, including one of my favorite bits from Abbott Elementary, where Quinta Brunson's over-achieving teacher is far too excited to spot the typing icon in a school crowd. I was reminded of my own childhood experience with Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, spending free periods at school and idle time at home trying to get my typing speed up. By middle school, typing felt as natural as breathing. And yes, I would also have freaked out if I saw the real Beacon in person.

While the documentary doesn't seem out of place at Sundance, which is known for innovative projects, it also sometimes feels like a piece of experimental media meant for YouTube or an art show filled with impossibly cool twenty-somethings. (At one point, Ross attends a farewell ceremony for one of her friends' dead laptops, which was hosted in an art space filled with people dressed in white. That's the sort of hip weirdness that will either turn you off of this film, or endear you to it more.)

Jones shows us screen recordings of her own desktop, where she may be watching a TikTok alongside her notes. Instead of a full-screen video chat with another person, sometimes we just see a FaceTime window (and occasionally that reflects Jones' own image looking at the screen). Finding Mavis Beacon tells its story in a way that digital natives will find natural, without locking itself exclusively into screens like the film Searching.

As is true for many first features, the film could use some narrative tightening. Jones and Ross's investigation stalls at several points, and we're often just left adrift as they ponder their next steps. The pair also occasionally appear too close to the story, or at least, that's how it seems when we see Jones tearing up while pleading to meet with L'Esperance.

But I'd argue that's also part of the charm of Seeking Mavis Beacon. Jones and Ross aren't some true crime podcast hosts looking to create content out of controversy. They're young women who found comfort in one of the few faces in tech that looked like them. With this film, Jones and Ross could be similarly inspirational for a new generation of underrepresented techies.

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