The news of Malik Bendjelloul’s death came right at the start of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. I woke up, ready to attend the first screening of the fest, when I received an email that said the director had died in Stockholm, his home country. But there was no confirmation of the cause of death. He was 36 years old. An Oscar winner. A filmmaker with so much more to do. It was a shock that made me gasp out loud. As the day continued, I bumped into a Swedish colleague, who works for a radio station, as we were both waiting for the festival’s opening press conference. While talking,…
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The Cannes Diaries, Day 1: A Cloud Over Cannes
It felt like there was a cloud hanging over Cannes today. Not the rain kind, although there were those hovering about too. Waking up to the news that Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul, the man who gave Detroit singer Rodriguez’ a second lease on life, took his own, cast a shadow over the excitement of the start of a festival. He was only 36 years old. Malik had become a fixture on the film festival circuit, tirelessly promoting his documentary, in the days and months before it won the highest of prizes, an Oscar for Best Documentary. I felt like I’d lost someone I knew. Interviewing him at Sundance in 2011 has always…
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Oscars 2013: Searching for Sugar Men
The red carpet has been laid out and those giant Oscar statues have been placed at the entrance to the Dolby Theatre – the stage is almost set for the 85th Annual Academy Awards. While South Africa doesn’t have any official major nominations, there are still a few reasons to keep a keen eye on tonight’s awards, as the country may just have a positive “Oscar” story to report after the past week of unbelievable headlines. Searching for Sugar Man has been on an incredible journey since it first debuted at the Sundance Film Festival last year. Over the past 12 or so months, I’ve had so many people ask…
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Searching for Suger Man
A 6-year old girl from a movie inspired by the New Orleans hurricane may have captured most of the hearts at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, but there was still plenty of love left for a 69-year-old American singer-songwriter, largely ignored by his home country, yet loved in South Africa. Searching for Sugar Man, a documentary directed by Swedish filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul, walked into the festival with a short-film-award-winning buzz around it and left with two awards, a distribution deal and thousands of new fans for its subject, the Detroit-born singer Rodriguez. And the acclaim didn’t stop there. “This was only meant to be a 7 minute insert for TV…
