A Lake of the Isles homeowner and a Minneapolis chainsaw sculptor shape meaning (and a twenty foot tall pencil) from the twisted trunk of a fallen oak tree.
But this pencil isn’t meant to last. Every year, thousands gather to sacrifice a part of the pencil in a sharpening ceremony, and in the process renew the collective promise to “do something.”
Original/English Title: A Short Documentary About A Giant Pencil
Country of Production: United States
Duration: 22 mins
Screening Material: DCP
Sound: 5.1 surround
Screen Ratio: 1.43:1 (Ultra Pencilvision)
Frame Rate: 24fps
Color
English Language (with English subtitles)
MINNEAPOLIS PREMIERE
April 18, 2026 at 11:10AM
Main Cinema
April 18, 2026 at 1:00PM
UNCSA Gold Theatre
April 25 at 3:30PM
UNCSA Gold Theatre
WORLD PREMIERE
February 10
SBIFF Film Center
February 11
SBIFF Film Center
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Santa Barbara Film Festival Winners: A Short Documentary About A Giant Pencil
“We are thrilled to celebrate such a wonderful array of winning films that represent the best independent creatives working today,” said Claudia Puig, SBIFF programming director. “All these outstanding films tell essential stories that speak eloquently about the human condition… their stories are set in scenic locales from Malaysia to Minneapolis.”
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Review: A Short Documentary About A giant Pencil
A SHORT DOCUMENTARY ABOUT A GIANT PENCILis an absolute delight for the entire family. It’s a “sharpened” showcase of what happens when art connects and gives people a sense of community… and one film I won’t want to “erase” from my memory any time soon.
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20-foot-tall pencil on Lake of the Isles lawn will get its annual sharpening. The giant No. 2 pencil also is the subject of a documentary film.
Loti Pencil is getting so famous that soon there will be a short documentary about it. Los Angeles-based documentary filmmaker Daniel Straub started doing interviews with John and Amy Higgins and Ingvoldstad three months ago and will be coming to town this week to shoot the documentary.
DANIEL STRAUB
DIRECTOR, PRODUCER
Daniel is a Los Angeles-based director and producer whose most recent film, the award-winning investigative feature documentary OUT OF PLAIN SIGHT for the Los Angeles Times, is completely different than this and has almost nothing to do with pencils.
AUSTIN STRAUB
CINEMATOGRAPHER, PRODUCER
Austin Straub is an Emmy®-winning cinematographer (The Migrant Kitchen, PBS/KCET) whose work spans the gamut of the industry. They have lensed theatrical-feature films, as well as specials for Disney+ and Apple TV+, and their documentary-style camera operating has been tapped for concert films produced by HBO, Amazon and Apple. Austin thrives in intimate, human stories bathed in naturalistic light, and they are passionate about placing the audience in the heart of the most pointed issues of our time, including pencils.
BRYCE CYRIER
PRODUCER
Bryce is a film and documentary producer known for his versatile leadership and commitment to fostering the creative process. He’s made feature documentaries, doc series, shorts, commercials, and music videos, ranging in distribution from wide theatrical release to millions of views on YouTube. He has worked with professional athletes, NY Times bestselling authors, and Academy Award winners like Laura Dern and Golden Globe winners Paul Walter Hauser, Michael C. Hall, and Annette Bening. This is his first short documentary specifically about a giant pencil. He is also a screenwriter, a husband, and a proud father to two kids who love movies even more than he does.
JAMES ELLINGTON
COMPOSER
James is a lifelong musician, pencil user, composer, producer and music supervisor with an eclectic music palette.
Ellington's most recent project is Out of Plain Sight, an unprecedented feature documentary produced by the Los Angeles Times, for which he composed the entire score.
