Another entry for…Blast from the Past!
Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul directed this beautiful documentary…
Rick Emmerson: “He had this kind of magical quality that all the genuine poets and artists have: to elevate things. To get above the mundane, the prosaic. All the bullshit. All the mediocrity that’s everywhere. The artist, the artist is the pioneer.”
“Searching for Sugar Man” was released on this day July 27th 2012, making the film 5 years old as of today.
This feature follows 2 Cape Town fans named Stephen “Sugar” Segerman and Craig Bartholomew Strydom during the late 1990s. The audience is taken on a search party as the fans try to find out whether the rumored death of American musician, Sixto Rodriguez, was true and if false, to know what has happened to him. Also, Rodriguez’s music did not achieve success in the USA, however, it was in South Africa where he gained a huge following and popularity despite the fact that there was little information about him.
Fun fact; the film won both the BAFTA (British Academy Film Awards) and Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
Also, on a sad note, Bendjelloul committed suicide 2 years after the film’s release, specifically May 13th 2014, after battling with depression. At the time of his death, he was working on a film adaptation of South African author Lawrence Anthony’s non-fiction novel “The Elephant Whisperer”.
Personally, this should appeal to South African audiences.
If you like Rodriguez’s music and are looking for something that is documentary-like and feel like being intellectually stimulated, then this is for you, or for anyone you know, who likes the aforementioned aspects.
Poster design by Andrew Bannister.