Malik Bendjelloul, Swedish Oscar-winning director dies

Malik Bendjelloul, the acclaimed Swedish film director behind the Oscar-winning music documentary “Searching for Sugar Man,” died May 13 in Stockholm. He was 36.

Police spokeswoman Pia Glenvik confirmed the death but wouldn’t specify the cause. She said no crime is suspected in relation to the death.

“Searching for Sugar Man,” which detailed the life and career of Detroit singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, won the Oscar for best documentary in 2013. Rodriguez made a few acclaimed albums in the early 1970s and was a huge star in South Africa, then seemed to have disappeared and was then widely presumed dead.

Mr. Bendjelloul was born in 1977 to Swedish translator Veronica Schildt Bendjelloul and doctor Hacene Bendjelloul. He acted in the Swedish TV series “Ebba and Didrik” during the 1990s.

He studied journalism and media production at the Linnaeus University in Kalmar in southern Sweden before joining SVT, the Swedish public service TV company, where he worked as a reporter on the culture program “Kobra.”

He eventually resigned to travel the world. He got the idea for “Searching for Sugar Man” — his first feature film — during one of his trips, but it would take him more than four years to complete the film.

Survivors include his parents and a brother.