The century marked by cinema, more than any other art, has come to an end. However, the Seventh Art, undoubtedly the most popular of all, continues its course because it still has much to tell and offer us.

This book does not aim to be a history of world cinema, even though the films cover a period from the early emergence of this new art to the end of the 20th century. It was written essentially on the occasion of the beginning of a new century and a new millennium to present my completely personal selection of my 100 favorite films, as its title suggests.

However, I must emphasize from the start that these are only 100 of my favorite films. From the approximately 40,000 films, both silent and talkies, that I have seen since I started going to the cinema, I have singled out many more than 100 films that I truly loved. As a result, not all of them can fit into the list presented in the book you hold in your hands.

I must also point out that if I made a new selection today, I might change some of the titles, as I regrettably had to leave out several films that I love with the same, I would say, passion.

One thing is certain: the films you have in front of you are films with which I grew up, that gave me and continue to give me the taste and feeling of the magic of moving images that the viewers experienced on that first day in Paris in 1895 during the public screening by the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis.

Films that, at the same time, give you the image of what cinema means, how this unique art evolved, and why it remains a wonderful and unparalleled art that combines in the best and most appealing way all the other arts that preceded it.