Malik Bendjelloul, the acclaimed Swedish director who ran out of cash and finished shooting his Oscar-winning documentary "Searching for Sugar Man" with a smartphone app, died suddenly Tuesday in Stockholm, police said. He was 36.
No crime is suspected in the death of the filmmaker, who won the 2013 Academy Award for his debut feature about an obscure American crooner who gained fame abroad but remained virtually unknown at home, Stockholm Police Sgt. Janne Gyllstedt told CNN.
Gyllstedt would not specify the cause of death and said he was unable to disclose any additional information.
"Searching for Sugar Man" is the story of Sixto Rodriguez, a singer from Detroit who became a legend in South Africa. With lyrics such as "The system's gonna fall soon, to an angry young tune," Rodriguez unwittingly became the voice of the anti-Apartheid struggle in the 1970s, even as his records flopped in his own country.
