‘Searching for Sugar Man’ director found dead
Oscar-winning director Malik Bendjelloul was found dead in Stockholm, according to reports. He was 36.
Bendjelloul’s “Searching for Sugar Man,” which chronicled two men’s successful quest to debunk the rumor that American musician Sixto Rodriguez was no longer living, won the Academy Award last year for Best Documentary Feature.
No cause of death has been released. Authorities have said that they do not suspect foul play.
Bendjelloul, a former child actor, not only earned global acclaim with his feature directorial debut, he also rejuvenated interest in Rodriguez’s music. The Detroit native had recorded two albums back in the 1970s and then not much was heard from him, but all the while he had developed a rabid fan base in South Africa, which was discovered by Bendjelloul.
“I was traveling around the world for six months in 2006, looking for good stories, and in Cape Town I met Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman, the detective of the story,” Bendjellouol recalled in an interview in April 2013. “The detective who found this guy who was supposedly dead for 35 years, and then he found out that Rodriguez was alive.”
“I immediately thought, this was the best story I’d heard in my life!” he said.
In addition to the Oscar, “Searching for Sugar Man” also won Best Documentary honors from the 2013 DGA, PGA, WGA, BAFTA, and American Cinema Awards, as well as the 2012 International Documentary Association Awards.
When he was around 12, Bendjelloul appeared in the Swedish children’s TV series “Ebba och Didrik.” He worked as a journalist for Swedish public broadcaster SVT and then left that job to travel the world.