Most WHS students know about the north Wayland versus south Wayland rivalry, but not many know the origin of this friendly contest. The source of the tension can be found in Wayland’s history, specifically during the Industrial Revolution period. The south was industrializing and had a factory, the Bent Shoe Factory, and the north was mostly farms.

Many such historical facts can be seen in “Five Miles Astride the River: The Story of Wayland,” a documentary produced by Pelham Island Pictures, a film company formed and run by two 2013 Wayland High School graduates, Zander Cowen and Jacob Sussman.

The documentary is split into three periods. The first focuses on colonial Wayland and its first settlers. The second takes place during the Industrial Revolution, when James Madison Bent started Bent Shoe Factory in Cochituate, located about where Starbucks is today. This rise of industrialization created the divide between north and south Wayland still present today.

“It’s really cool how you’ll be driving through town and notice the historical significance of things you never paid attention to before, like Bent Avenue down near Cochituate,” Sussman said.

The third part shows post-World War II Wayland, when major highways were being built, so the working men from downtown Boston could live outside the city while maintaining access to their jobs.

Wayland’s historical society contacted Cowen and Sussman to make the documentary as part of the year long Wayland 375 anniversary celebration. After being asked to create the documentary, they started researching Wayland’s history.

“Jacob and I sat down and read a lot of history books about Wayland, like Wayland A to Z, and we talked with historians,” Cowen said.

As part of their filming and research, the pair visited Plimoth Plantation and Old Sturbridge Village, living museums that portray colonial times.

According to Cowen, traveling was an interesting but time-consuming part of making the documentary. It contributed to one of the biggest challenges of making the documentary, time management.

“We had no idea how long this would take, and it took much longer than anticipated,” Cowen said.

However, a seemingly even bigger challenge came when the hard drive containing about an hour’s worth of footage malfunctioned. This accidental deletion turned out to be not as bad as they thought because the second interviews came out much better than the first.

“I’m almost glad that we lost our first set of footage because it allowed us to go back and shoot even better quality interviews,” Sussman said.

While creating the documentary, Cowen and Sussman said that they were determined to make it the best film they’ve made yet. Cowen thinks that they have succeeded in making it and is proud of how the documentary turned out, believing it to be a great showcase for their abilities.

“It’s funny, when we completed this project, we had so much confidence in ourselves to produce longer films like independent documentaries and such,” Cowen said. “I truly believe that we have the necessary skills to produce a compelling full feature length documentary after working on this project.”

The documentary will premiere tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at Wayland High School as part of the Walden Forum.