"Hugo Fregonese: Man on the Run", MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (Floor T2/T1 The Debra and Leon Black Family Film Cente) Through Sep 14

Perhaps history’s most restless filmmaker, Hugo Fregonese directed his first films in his native Argentina in the 1940s and then embarked on a globe-trotting career that took him to Hollywood, London, Paris, Rome, Munich, and eventually back to South America, all the while exploring themes of claustrophobia, entrapment, and imprisonment.

"Hollywood’s studio era remains a continual goldmine for film historians and cinephiles looking for hidden gems, and Il Cinema Ritrovato has made a habit of yearly rediscoveries of long-forgotten directors whose turn it is be elevated to auteur status. Blunt and direct as the tactic may be — bound to raise even Andrew Sarris’ eyebrows when it comes to framing films exclusively through auteurism — there’s no denying that it’s been successful in the past. This year, the title of the great rediscovered auteur goes to Hugo Fregonese, an Argentina-born director who only made films in Hollywood for a few years amidst a 30-year career.

Découverte du 36e festival du film restauré de Bologne, l’œuvre de l’argentin Hugo Fregonese (1908-1987) est celle d’un saddle tramp (pour reprendre le titre de son western de 1950, littéralement, vagabond à cheval) qui n’a cessé de changer de pays pour continuer à faire des films. Méconnus en France (ils ont quand même fait l’objet d’une rétrospective à la Cinémathèque de Chaillot en 2003, sous l’égide de Jacques Lourcelles), ses films témoignent de la pugnacité d’un réalisateur de série B doué qui a réussi à se hisser, au tournant des années 50, jusqu’aux studios hollywoodiens.

As swiftly as some directors changed studios, the Argentinian Hugo Fregonese (1908-87),  to whom this year's festival dedicates the section The Drifter's Escape: Hugo Fregonese, changed countries. His rootlessness and restlessness is frequently reflected in his protagonists – isolated individuals who are either voluntarily on the move or who have been forced into exile and eternal wandering.