Malik Bendjelloul

Although the causes have not been specified, the police are investigating the facts. “The only thing I can say is that there is no suspicion that it was a violent death,” Stockholm police officer Pia Glenvik told the media. The filmmaker was 36 years old.

Born in Ystad (Sweden) on September 14, 1977, Malik Bendjelloul was the son of a doctor of Algerian origin, Hacène Bendjelloul, and the Swedish painter Veronica Schildt.

When he was 13 years old, he made his acting debut in the television series Ebba och Didrik , which achieved some success in his country. After studying journalism at Kalmar University, he produced several documentaries for Swedish television.

Converted into a correspondent for the small screen, during his travels he learned the story of Sixto Rodríguez, a musician of Mexican origin who turned his back on his audience, and who failed to succeed in the United States, although his songs became very popular in South Africa in the ‘apartheid’.

At first, I wanted to make a 7-minute short film about Rodríguez for the small screen. But amazed at the response of the people around him, when he told them the story, he decided to shoot a feature film. When he had not yet finished his work, Searching for Sugar Man was chosen to open the Cannes Film Festival. It won the Oscar for best documentary in 2013.