Oscar-winning director Malik Bendjelloul dead at 36

USPA News - Swedish film director Malik Bendjelloul, whose film "Searching for Sugar Man" won the Oscar for best documentary at the Academy Awards last year, was found dead in Sweden on Tuesday, local authorities said on early Wednesday. He was 36 years old.

Bendjelloul was found dead on Tuesday evening in the municipality of Solna, located just north of the capital Stockholm, a local police spokesman said. He said the death was not being treated as suspicious but could not comment on the circumstances surrounding the sudden death. Malik Bendjelloul made his fame from the acclaimed 2012 documentary "Searching for Sugar Man," which chronicles the life of Detroit singer-songwriter Sixto Diaz Rodriguez, who disappeared from public after releasing an album in the early 70s and went on to develop a cult following in South Africa. The film won the Oscar for best documentary at the Academy Awards in California last year. Before making his career as a filmmaker, Bendjelloul studied journalism and media-production at the Linnaeus University of Kalmar in southern Sweden. He then joined Sveriges Television (SVT) where he worked as a reporter on the culture program Kobra before making "Searching for Sugar Man." Bendjelloul is survived by his parents and brother Johar Bendjelloul.