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The Business

Searching for Sugar Man

Malik Bendjelloul was a Swedish TV producer who’d recently quit his job to travel the world. His plan was to find good stories that he could turn into 7 minute long pieces to sell to his former employer.

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By Kim Masters • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

Malik Bendjelloul was a Swedish TV producer who’d recently quit his job to travel the world. His plan was to find good stories that he could turn into 7 minute long pieces to sell to his former employer. But the story of Rodriguez-- the obscure American musician who was a huge icon in South Africa who supposedly had committed suicide-- demanded more time than that. So he sets out to make his first feature film. The story he tells is one of chutzpah and resourceful (even shooting scenes on his iphone when money ran low). He finally gets the film into Sundance but many elements are unfinished ‘place-holders’ in need of professional editors and animators. The rest is a Cinderella story. Since premiering (complete with those place-holders) at the Sundance Film Festival 2012, the movie has won 19 awards and is nominated for an Oscar and BAFTA.

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Kim Masters

    partner/writer at Puck News, host of KCRW's “The Business.”

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    Darby Maloney

    Producer

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