Oscar-Winning Director Of ‘Searching For Sugar Man’ Dies At 36

The acclaimed Swedish film director behind the Oscar-winning music documentary “Searching for Sugar Man,” Malik Bendjelloul died at the age of 36 on May 13 in Stockholm. Cause of death is yet to be confirmed, but the police said no crime is suspected in relation to the death.

He was born in 1977 to Swedish translator Veronica Schildt Bendjelloul and doctor Hacene Bendjelloul. In the early years of his life he acted in the Swedish TV series “Ebba and Didrik,” and after studying journalism and media production at the Linnaeus University in Kalmar in southern Sweden, he joined SVT, the Swedish public service TV, where he worked as a reporter on the culture program “Kobra.”

Eventually, he quit and went after his dream – to travel the world. He got the idea for his first feature film, “Searching for Sugar Man,” during one of his trips, but it would take him more than four years to complete the film.

The story followed the life and career of Detroit singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, who made a few acclaimed albums in the early 1970s and was a huge star in South Africa. With “Searching for Sugar Man” Bendjelloul won the Oscar for best documentary in 2013.

The director’s sudden death came as a shock to many in the close-knit Swedish film community. Swedish Film Institute spokesman Jan Goransson said “This terrible news has put us all in a state of shock. Malik Bendjelloul was one of our most exciting filmmakers, which the Oscar award last year was a clear proof of.”

Bendjelloul has previously said he escaped the Hollywood hype around him after the Oscar award to go on a safari and has been working on a film about a man who could communicate with elephants.