Filmmaker and Academy Award winner Malik Bendjelloul died at the age of 36 in Stockholm, reported the local police.
Through a press release and without providing further details, the authorities of Stockholm reported that the director of the documentary "Searching for Sugar Man" was found dead on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 13, dismissing the possibility that the filmmaker's unexpected death was related to a crime.
The brother of the film director confirmed to Reuters the reports of the local media which alleged that Malik Bendjelloul commited suicide.
"I can confirm that my brother took his own life," said Johar Bendjelloul in a text message to Reuters.
For its part, Sony Pictures Classics, distributor of the documentary "Searching for Sugar Man", a film which tells the real story of a rock artist from the 70's known as Rodriguez and which led Malik Bendjelloul to win the top award of the American film industry, expressed its condolences to the family for the death of the filmmaker, saying that the young man did not chase fame, fortune, awards or acknowledgement; however, his talent led him to make great cinema, and will be missed and remembered.
"We're very sad to hear of Malik's death," said Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, presidents of the Sony Pictures Classics distributor, in a press release quoted by Efe. "Our hearts are with his family and friends," they added.
The son of the doctor of Argelian origins, Hacène Bendjelloul and Swedish translator and painter Veronica Schildt Bendjelloul, began his career in television as a reporter for the Swedish network SVT and began his work as a director in 1990 by filming two fans in Cape City, South Africa, in the search for the American folk musician Sixto Rodriguez. His documentary "Searching for Sugar Man" won the 2013 Academy Award to Best Documentary. Bendjelloul also won a BAFTA in 2013.