The Satisfied Eye International Film Festival
Epsom isn't exactly steeped in film history. Zulu star Stanley Baker lived here for a number of years, while Norman Wisdom divided his time between his luxury flat on Church Street and a residence on the Isle of Man. Just around the corner from where I'm writing this is the former registry office where Margaret Lockwood and Oliver Reed got married (not to each other). In the local cemetery you can find the neglected grave of striptease artiste Phyllis Dixey, who made a mercifully brief foray into acting as an ersatz femme fatale opposite Herbert Lom in Brit noir Dual Alibi (1947). Other than that the Queen's Stand at Epsom Racecourse implausibly doubled for St Petersburg Airport in Goldeneye (1995) and... well.. that's pretty much it. So, with the greatest respect to those concerned, it's taken me a while to be sold on the idea of Epsom hosting a film festival. Consequently, I didn't pay much attention when the first Satisfied Eye International Film Festiv...