MILLBROOK, June 3 — Priya Venkatesh spent eight months with a borrowed camera and a $3,000 budget, and the result is turning heads on the festival circuit. Her documentary short "The Slow Road" — which profiles Harold and Eugenia Fitch, the 70-something owners of Fitch's Diner on Route 9 who are facing the loss of their building to a commercial redevelopment project — has been accepted into three national film festivals this summer, including the Clearwater Indie Film Festival, widely considered one of the top short-film showcases in the country.
A Story Close to Home
Venkatesh, a 31-year-old graphic designer by day, said she picked up documentary filmmaking during the pandemic and never really put it down. "I drove by Fitch's Diner a hundred times," she said. "One day I just stopped and asked if I could come back with a camera." The film has also been accepted into the Heartland Short Film Showcase in Kansas City and the New Voices Documentary Festival in Atlanta. Venkatesh said she hopes the attention will help save the diner — the Fitches are currently in a lease dispute with a developer — though she stresses the film doesn't take sides.
Local Screening Planned
A community screening of "The Slow Road" is being organized for late July at the Millbrook Public Library's auditorium. Venkatesh said admission will be free and she plans to do a Q&A afterward. Those interested can sign up for updates through the library's events newsletter. The diner itself, at 4801 Route 9 South, remains open daily through at least the end of August pending the outcome of the lease dispute.
