Focusing on the simple design and potential of the pencil, filmmaker William Allen turns his camera to a wide range of pencil lovers, a pencil maker, and even pencil historians like David Rees, who informs and entertains with a tongue-in-cheek passion for artisanal pencil sharpening. Henry Hulan III, President of Musgrave Pencil Company, gives viewers a glimpse of his family’s pencil manufacturing company in Shelbyville, Tennessee.

Author and Civil Engineering Professor Henry Petroski talks about how the simple yet ingenious design of the pencil has endured centuries of change and will continue to thrive in our techno-driven society. -Doug Floyd