27/08/2013 - Swedish actor-director Malik Bendjelloul’s Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man celebrates one year in local cinemas and more than 20 international awards

Swedish actor-director Malik Bendjelloul’s documentary debut, Searching for Sugar Man [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (photo) – the first Swedish film to win an Oscar after Ingmar Bergman (The Virgin Spring/1960, Through a Glass Darkly/1961 and Fanny and Alexander/1983) – celebrated its first anniversary last week (August 24) in local theatres, where it has till now grossed €1.4 million.

“I am as happy as I am amazed that it is still running,” said Bendjelloul. “The film has stood out in more ways than we as distributors could have dreamed of – this has been an unique experience for us, added distribution-acquisitions director Jakob Abrahamsson, of NonStop Entertainment.

Saturday (August 31) Swedish pubcaster SVT will air Searching for Sugar Man, which – after its international premiere at the Sundance Film Festival – won the grand slam at the Swedish Guldbagge gala (the national film prizes), has received a BAFTA Award, a Directors Guild of America Award and a Writers Guild of America Award, and been rewarded at festivals in Chicago, Washington, Amsterdam, Durban, Melbourne, Haugesund and Moscow.

The film explores the life of the late Detroit singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, who never made it in his homeland, but who sold more records than The Rolling Stones in South Africa, where he became a pop music icon and inspiration for generations.

Apparently he committed suicide, but news reports differed, so 20 years later a South African journalist and a fan decided to find out the truth. The Peter Schildt, Simon Chinn and Bendjelloul production for Red Box Films and Passion Pictures features interviews with his daughters and much of his recorded music.