Clocking up movie no 11,000

COL NEEDHAM, the English founder of film bible the IMDb (Internet Movie Database) reached a remarkable movie milestone at Cannes.

The screening of Solo: A Star Wars Story marked his eleven thousandth film. Yes folks: 11,000.

That figure, by the way, doesn’t include the pictures he saw multiple times. For instance, he saw James Cameron’s Aliens 60 times, but counts that as just one on his list.

I see Needham and his wife Karen all over the world, at film festivals and awards ceremonies, and he’s a walking encyclopaedia of motion pictures. What was the first film he ever saw? ‘That’s easy. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs,’ he said, pointing out that both Number 1 and Number 11,000 came from the Disney family.

Me? I don’t keep count, though I do know my tally for Cannes, across all the strands, is 39. So far.