Searching for Sugar Man

Sixto Rodriguez, Mexican-born singer songwriter from Detroit. As celebrated as Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley together. Never heard of him? You are not alone. Because the place and time where Rodriguez' music caught on like wildfire was 1970s South Africa (and Australia, but that's a different story). In South Africa, Rodriguez' album COLD FACT became the soundtrack of the anti-apartheid movement. Even though the Apartheid regime censored Rodriguez' music. Songs that were believed to instigate unrest were banned from all mass media. With South Africa being cut off from the world, hardly anyone outside of it knew of Sixto Rodriguez' unlikely fame. Least of all the musician himself. One day, two South African fans set out to find their idol, around whom there are many rumours, especially about an alleged gruesome on-stage suicide. In the end, the two fans discover far more than they ever hoped for. SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN is the incredible story of music that assumed a life of its own far away from the person who created it. Director Malik Bendjelloul's cinematic journey is a musical fairytale. Always along for the ride are Rodriguez's songs, which are well worth listening to. Not only in South Africa. *** Sixto Rodriguez' music also became very popular in 1970s Australia. Rodriguez was well aware of this - and also toured here in 1979 and 1981. Yet the film does not tell this part of the story. It strictly follows the perspective of the South African fans who were cut off from the world until the late 1980s as President Bota's Apartheid regime strictly censored the country's mass media.