Julio Saraceni (October 10, 1912 – October 12, 1998) was a prolific Argentine film director whose career in the Cinema of Argentina as a movie director spanned six decades.
He was an aviator as a young man, but later found a career in film, where he debuted as a director in a 1937 short film, Fórmula secreta, in which he used his flying experience for the making of numerous scenes. He directed his first full-length title, Florencio Parravicini's comedy vehicle, Noches de carnaval, later that year. Saraceni married a member of the crew, Argentina Mori, and with her made some 60 films between 1938 and 1986, such as María Celeste (1944), Alma de bohemio (1949), La barra de la esquina (1950), and La mejor del colegio (1953). Saraceni was best known for directing comedies, and worked with many of the best known local figures in the genre, including Parravicini, Fidel Pintos, Niní Marshall, José Marrone. Carlos Balá, Lolita Torres and Pepe Biondi.[1]
Saraceni directed pop musician Sandro's El deseo de vivir in 1972, and one of the series of Superagentes capers in 1986 (his last film). He dedicated himself to documentaries and made-for-television titles afterwards, and worked extensively for Channel 9 and Telefé. He suffered a stroke in 1988, however, and remained hemiplegic in later years. Saraceni lived half a block away from the site of the 1994 AMIA bombing, the worst terrorist attack in Argentine history, but survived. Dependent on an Argentine Institute of Cinematography pension, he lost his wife in 1996, and in 1998, Julio Saraceni died at age 86.[1]
