'I will see you again', book of the year

Trump's defeat in the legislative elections is not the only relevant thing that has happened this week. This Thursday is being or has been presented in Barcelona —depending on when you read this—, at the headquarters of the Filmoteca de Catalunya, the essential Et tornaré a veure (Apunts sobre cinema 1910 – 1945), by Enric Sòria. Now that the year is ending soon and lists of books, records, and everything else will start appearing everywhere, this is undoubtedly one of the important books published in Catalan throughout this 2026. We already talked about it in this column at the beginning of last April, when it had been published a short time ago. But since, for whatever reason, the kind readers never quite pay attention to book recommendations, we will allow ourselves to insist on this one.

Et tornaré a veure is a sufficiently exhaustive collection of comments on films shot and released within the time frame specified in the subtitle, that is, between 1910 and 1945. These are the years that go from the beginnings of the film industry to the end of the Second World War, and it can be considered that they mark a first stage in the development and consolidation of cinema as an artistic language. These are the years that go from cinema understood as a fairground attraction to cinema understood, in its own right, as one of the fine arts. That to the list of Fine Arts, set in modern times by the abbé Batteux in the 18th century (painting, sculpture, architecture, music, poetry and dance) was added, in the 20th century, a new art, the seventh, is a transcendent fact and it must have been exciting to experience it. It is, also, to remember it, and this book does so through the films of the era.

It does so, moreover, with generosity, breadth, and depth. Et tornaré a veure is an imposing book, both in its continent and its content: two thick volumes that total 1,200 pages, with reviews of some nine hundred films. The ordering criterion is chronological: the titles are grouped year by year, and the cinematographies of the most diverse countries coexist in cheerful promiscuity: from the United Kingdom to Japan, from the USA to Russia, from Spain to Germany or France or Italy. Eclecticism is a large part of the key to this work's appeal, and I warn you that it is an irresistible appeal: the agility and variety of the texts, and Enric Sòria's writing, which knows how to combine erudition on the subject with an irony and nuances full of vitality, make the articles or commentaries of Et tornaré a veure become a reading that spoils and delights the reader. The work, which Sòria has written and worked on for a long time, is published by the Filmoteca Valenciana and the Institució Alfons el Magnànim: 2026 has been a year in which some very good books have been published, some even excellent, but I say that Et tornaré a veure is a book to highlight because it makes an especially important contribution to Catalan culture. We did not have a film book like this, and now that we have it, let's celebrate it, let's toast to it, let's read it. And while we are at it, let's watch the films.