It was of course fascinating to hear what the director of one of the world’s leading film festivals would choose as his FMOAT. And it was a movie from his childhood: the magnificent 1959 historical epic Ben-Hur. The film won eleven Oscars. But it also contained what might be one of the most famous bloopers of all time: in the legendary chariot race, one of Ben-Hur’s enemies can apparently be seen to be wearing a wrist-watch as he falls from his chariot!

Rüdiger Nehberg is man who has plied the oceans. He’s at home in the deepest, densest jungle. But he loves the desert. And his choice as his FMOAT is Lawrence of Arabia. It’s a fantastic film, and I must admit that I think director David Lean is one of the greats. Interesting book, too: Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence.

Stefan Willich has two choices for his FMOAT. First up, like so many others, he’s gone for a Stanley Kubrick movie: A Clockwork Orange. His other pick is a bit of a surprise, but very interesting: Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900. Starring Donald Sutherland, Gérard Depardieu and Robert de Niro.

Dirk Jacobs is a busy man. He effectively has two careers – as a news journalist, and a sports reporter. He’s also a serious family man, a basketball player, a songwriter! But still he’s found time to watch his FMOAT “30 to 40 times”! And it is … of course: the 1987 newsroom drama Broadcast News. The great American critic Roger Ebert, who sadly recently passed away, said it was as “knowledgeable about the TV news-gathering process as any movie ever made”.

“I’ve got to think about that,” he says. “The problem is that I always say the last film I liked was my favourite.” But then he comes up with a selection that I’d never heard of. It’s called The Colour of Magic and it’s an adaptation of two novels from the Discworld series that was created by the hugely successful British fantasy writer Terry Pratchett.