Sérgio Ricardo (director)

João Lutfi (18 June 1932 – 23 July 2020), known professionally as Sérgio Ricardo, was a Brazilian film director and composer.^[1] He directed five films between 1964 and 1974.

Sérgio Ricardo
Ricardo interviewed by TV Brasil in 2015
Born	João Lutfi (1932-06-18)June 18, 1932 Marília, São Paulo, Brazil
Died	July 23, 2020(2020-07-23) (aged 88) Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Occupation(s)	Film director, composer
Years active	1964-2020

Born in the city of Marília, São Paulo, his father, Abdalla Lutfi, and mother, Maria Mansur, were both of Syrian descent.^[2][3] In 1967 he gained attention when taking part in the third Festival de Música Popular Brasileira, in which he performed a rearranged version of "Beto bom de bola".^[4] The audience disliked the fact that he would not perform the original version and booed him during the whole performance.^[4] At a certain moment, he gave up playing, shouted "You won!" at the audience, broke his acoustic guitar and threw it at the crowd.^[4] He was then immediately disqualified.^[4]

He was infected with COVID-19, and became COVID-negative in May 2020. However, he died without being discharged on 23 July 2020, a month after his 88th birthday, of heart failure.^[5]

Selected filmography

• Boy of White Trousers (short, director, 1962)
• This World is Mine (director, 1964)
• Black God, White Devil (composer, 1964)
• Lost Love Juliana (director, 1970)
• The Night of the Scarecrow (director, 1974)