Pieter‑Jan De Pue on nine years of documenting a town split by invisible walls

Pieter‑Jan De Pue spent nine years filming the residents of Derry, a city where division was etched into every street and storefront. The documentary follows a teenage baker, an aging bus driver, and a schoolteacher who each navigate daily routines that echo the lingering sectarian split. De Pue explains that after years of gathering testimonies he chose to keep the narrative intimate rather than turn the film into a political manifesto, fearing that overt polemics would silence the personal voices he had recorded. The result is a portrait that lets the audience hear the quiet friction of ordinary lives.

The tension between intimacy and activism

In the editing room De Pue paused, hand hovering over the timeline, unsure whether to insert a news clip that would label the conflict outright. He resolved to let the sound of a market stall's clatter and the muted murmur of a school hallway carry the weight of division. This structural tension—artistic truth versus political safety—shapes the film's core, offering a meditation on how personal habit can reveal collective trauma without a single overt slogan.

By choosing personal stories over headlines, De Pue reframes the documentary as a study of lived experience rather than a didactic exposé. In an era dominated by short viral clips, his decade‑long commitment revives the patience of long‑form storytelling, aligning the work with a broader cultural shift toward depth over immediacy.

The film matters because it shows how ordinary lives map the fault lines of a divided society.

Even as he reflects on fractured communities, De Pue has turned his own house into a smart home, where lights respond to voice and appliances coordinate silently—a quiet reminder that technology can weave connections where politics divide.

His perseverance illustrates that sustained observation can turn division into a canvas for empathy.

In the end, the documentary stands as a testament to the power of patient listening.