Market Screening: A Short Documentary About a Giant Pencil

Two Minneapolis homeowners and a chainsaw sculptor shape meaning (and a twenty foot tall pencil) from the twisted trunk of a storm-damaged 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.” Nearly 10,000 people came to participate in the fourth annual sharpening ceremony.

From the destruction, something beautiful has risen: a place where thousands of people come together from all backgrounds and ages to celebrate new beginnings.