A FILM fan who has watched the new Star Wars film 34 times in less than a month is hoping to set a new world record.

Alex Gold, 30, has so far spent over 76 hours – the equivalent to more than three days – watching the blockbuster with all but one of the viewings at Brynmawr’s Market Hall Cinema.

Superfan Mr Gold did not set out to set records but said “it just kept going and going” with him sometimes watching the 135-minute film three times in one day.

In one showing he even sat behind the screen to watch the film backwards and projected over him.

Filmmaker and musician Mr Gold said it all started when he went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens at midnight on Friday December 18 at the IMAX in Cardiff.

“The experience was spoilt because there was a problem with the film and they had to stop it and we had to move screens,” he said.

He then went to see the film the next day at the Brynmawr cinema and said: “It completely blew me away”.

“I don’t think I was thinking of any records, I just wanted to watch it again.

“Then on the fourth watch I watched two showings in one day. I realised how much of a good movie it was.

“I got to about five and started thinking, what if I just kept watching it lots and lots.

“Then I started writing, I took a pad in with me. I wrote a lot of stuff down about what I was thinking during the movie, breaking it apart.

“I was making notes on the script and the way the film was edited.”

He said: “My friend said I should go for a record. I was like, ‘what does this mean? What do I have to do?’

“I contacted Guinness and there’s an application so I filled that in.

“I got to the 19th or 20th when I started realising how much time I had left.”

Mr Gold said he wants to make it to the 36th - a play on the word “sith” and because of the 36 chambers of Star Wars.

The 34th viewing he watched backwards on a vintage cinema chair behind the screen. He said: “It really was the maddest experience I’ve been through.

“The light is projecting on you. As I looked left and right there’s all storm troopers all around me. It’s quite disturbing but it feels like the scene rolls over you, it’s like you are in the film.”

Mr Gold originally bought tickets to 66 showings of the film at the Brynmawr cinema but said: “I couldn’t get to them all physically”.

He said the hardest viewings were around the 28 mark.

“I got to 28 and it happened,” he said. “It didn’t come on gradual. I was really fidgety. I didn’t hate it but 28, 29 and 30 were the worst ones. At 31 it was a good movie again.”

He said he is now waiting for Guinness to assess his world record application.

Peter Watkins-Hughes, owner of the Market Hall cinema, said Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the highest grossing film in its 121 year history.

The cinema has shown it 89 times but is now returning it to the screen, and it will top over 100 by next week.