How to Sharpen Pencils

Pencil Test

July 1988 •English

A pencil tool escapes from the Macintosh interface when no one can see it, as it wants to take a closer look to a wooden pencil on a desk. Afterwards, it attempts to get back onto the screen but the computer has been turned off by an unseen human presence. The pencil tool finally manages to turn on the computer but when it tries to return to the software programme is no longer possible and ends up smacking onto the screen. After the credits, you can hear a sound of the screen shattering.

Button Down

December 2022 •German

Duck Amuck

February 1953 •English

The short-tempered Daffy Duck must improvise madly as the backgrounds, his costumes, the soundtrack, even his physical form, shifts and changes at the whim of the animator.

2 in the AM PM

April 2006 •English

Two store clerks slacking off at work (at a gas station) on Halloween go on an acid trip. Created by J.G. Quintel the characters were the basis for Mordacai and Benson on the Regular Show. The taller clerk, voiced by Quintel, introduces to the shorter clerk, voiced by Sam Marin, what he describes as a piece of "candy", to which later is learned to be laced with LSD. The characters then go on an acid trip, seeing each other morph into characters and objects. Sam's character is paranoid because he has not had acid before, and they attempt to figure out a plan as to how to "sober themselves up" before they are noticed by work personnel or police enforcement attention.

The Matwix

September 2001 •English

A Looney Tunes parody of the iconic 1999 film The Matrix.

In Praise of Hands

January 1974 •English

This short documentary pays tribute to the craftsmen everywhere whose work adds color and richness to life. Filmed in the Canadian Arctic, Finland, India, Nigeria, Japan, Mexico, and Poland, it shows the special skills of artisans working at their crafts - stone sculpture, pottery, ceramics, weaving, dyeing, puppet making, embroidery. Each indigenous skill is a reflection of the culture of the country.

Eraserhead

September 1977 •English

First-time father Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.

The Story of Peter and the Potter

January 1953 •English

In this short drama, Peter accidentally breaks a glass bowl intended as a birthday gift for his mother. Mr. and Mrs. Deichmann and their daughter Anneke, all artisans in clay, come to the rescue and make him one of their designs while Peter watches. Every stage, from the first turn of the potter's wheel to the final glazing and baking, is shown.

Pencil Face

May 2008 •

A young girl is playing on some waste ground when she finds a pencil with a face. Whatever she draws with the pencil becomes real. Just an ordinary day.

Takumi: A 60,000 Hour Story on the Survival of Human Craft

March 2019 •English

There is a popular theory that it takes at least 10,000 hours of focused practice for a human to become expert in any field. In Japan, there are craftspeople who go far beyond this to reach a special kind of mastery. These people are called Takumi and they devote 60,000 hours to their craft. That's 8 hours a day, 240 days a year, for over 30 years. It's an almost superhuman level of dedication to a life of repetition and no shortcuts. This film asks the question: Will human craft disappear as artificial intelligence reaches beyond our limits?

Saving Paradise

September 2021 •English

A ruthless corporate raider is forced to return to his small town roots where he suddenly inherits his father's nearly bankrupt pencil factory, which is the heart and soul of the depressed community. With the foreclosure deadline looming, he must decide to either let it close, or join the community's fight to save it.

Jewelry Of India

Invalid date •English

Mother India is home to many castes, tribes and religions and one common factor that brings this diverse country all together is Jewelry. Come explore the deep history and culture of the jewelry of India dating back more than 5000 years. As we explore the history we also take you into Bangalore, India and talk to local Jewelry Stores and Jewelry Artisans as they share their stories and their family history of their involvement in jewelry going far back into their family ancestry.

LOOK & SEE: Wesley W. Bates - Wood Engraver

January 2017 •English

One of the great pleasures of working on LOOK & SEE was collaborating with artist and wood engraver Wesley W. Bates. Wesley's work has long accompanied Wendell Berry's poetry. When he agreed to provide original images for our film we were truly thrilled. Because each image involves such painstaking effort, we asked Wesley to film a block from start to finish. At two hours long, the video is a distillation of three days of his effort. And Wesley provided over ten such engravings along with the film's signature block of Wendell Berry.

Dos Antigos aos Filhos do Amanhã

May 2018 •Portuguese

The Lost Pencil

January 1960 •

After one of the pupils lost his pencil in the classroom, the other children accuse Dika that he stole it. Dika decides to fight for the truth, and luckily his teacher is the only one who believes him.

Onion

December 2011 •English

A short animation based on the poem "Onion" by Wislawa Szymborska.

The Taunting Pencil

July 2023 •English

A student tries to grab a magical pencil that seems to keep rolling away on it's own, in this film which is heavily inspired by the German expressionist movement.

A Pencil Cannonball

January 1983 •Korean

North Korea Animation that teaches the importance of learning Geometry.

Pop 'im Pop!

October 1950 •English

A circus comes to town featuring Gracie the Fighting Kangaroo and her youngster, Hippety Hopper.

Bushy Hare

November 1950 •English

Bugs encounters marsupials and an aborigine in Australia's outback.