Ajyal Film Festival 2023

All Films

Best of the Fest: Audience Award Documentary - 'Searching for Sugar Man'

Award Winners Showcase

Malik Bendjelloul / Feature Documentary / N/A / 85 min / Unknown / Unknown
Unknown

Synopsis

At first glance, ‘Searching for Sugar Man’ seems like a standard music documentary that explores the work and life of Sixto Rodriguez, a Mexican-American singer-songwriter who lived in Detroit in the 70s. His poetic, socially conscious compositions led a couple of producers to record an album of his work; they figured his future success was a foregone conclusion. Yet his first release, ‘Cold Fact’, went nowhere and Rodriguez disappeared – amid rumours of a grisly on-stage suicide. Bootleg copies of his recordings made their way to South Africa, where they enjoyed a huge cult popularity. Two of his biggest fans set out to find out what happened to their vanished musical hero, and in the process uncover a story more surprising than they could ever have imagined. The film has won audience awards at Sundance and many international festivals – it’s one of the hits of the year.

Credits

Director
Malik Bendjelloul

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