diff --git a/lib/features/movies/data/movie_repository.dart b/lib/features/movies/data/movie_repository.dart
index 2140b67..4b187a7 100644
--- a/lib/features/movies/data/movie_repository.dart
+++ b/lib/features/movies/data/movie_repository.dart
@@ -8,6 +8,15 @@ final movieFilterProvider = StateProvider<ItemStatus?>((_) => null);
 final moviesProvider = FutureProvider.autoDispose<List<Movie>>((ref) async {
   final backend = ref.watch(backendApiProvider);
   final st = ref.watch(movieFilterProvider);
-  final list = await backend.getMovies(status: st?.name);
-  return list.map(Movie.fromJson).toList();
-});
\ No newline at end of file
+  // Page through results to avoid large single-response 500s on the server
+  const pageSize = 500;
+  var offset = 0;
+  final all = <Map<String, dynamic>>[];
+  while (true) {
+    final page = await backend.getMovies(status: st?.name, offset: offset, limit: pageSize);
+    all.addAll(page);
+    if (page.length < pageSize) break;
+    offset += pageSize;
+  }
+  return all.map(Movie.fromJson).toList();
+});
diff --git a/lib/features/movies/presentation/movie_add_screen.dart b/lib/features/movies/presentation/movie_add_screen.dart
index 35b1222..81ab03f 100644
--- a/lib/features/movies/presentation/movie_add_screen.dart
+++ b/lib/features/movies/presentation/movie_add_screen.dart
@@ -21,14 +21,22 @@ class _MovieAddScreenState extends ConsumerState<MovieAddScreen> {
   Set<int> _existing = {};
 
   Future<void> _loadExisting() async {
-    // Fetch a larger set directly from backend to avoid pagination gaps
+    // Page through backend results to build tmdb_id set without huge single response
     final backend = ref.read(backendApiProvider);
-    final list = await backend.getMovies(limit: 5000);
+    const pageSize = 500;
+    var offset = 0;
+    final ids = <int>{};
+    while (true) {
+      final page = await backend.getMovies(offset: offset, limit: pageSize);
+      for (final m in page) {
+        final v = (m['tmdb_id'] as num?)?.toInt();
+        if (v != null) ids.add(v);
+      }
+      if (page.length < pageSize) break;
+      offset += pageSize;
+    }
     setState(() {
-      _existing = list
-          .map((m) => (m['tmdb_id'] as num))
-          .map((n) => n.toInt())
-          .toSet();
+      _existing = ids;
     });
   }