Update | ‘Searching for Sugar Man’ filmmaker committed suicide, family confirms

Malik Bendjelloul, the Swedish director of the acclaimed Searching for Sugar Man documentary, was widely known for his enthusiasm, kindness and high spirits, so the news that he had taken his own life shocked colleagues around the world.

His elder brother, Johar Bendjelloul, has confirmed that 36-year-old Malik killed himself on Tuesday. He told the daily Aftonbladet that his brother had struggled with depression for a short period.

“Life is not always simple,” Johar Bendjelloul was quoted as saying, adding that receiving the message that his brother had killed himself was the worst thing he had ever experienced.

“I don’t know how to handle it. I don’t know,” he said.

Police would not comment on the cause of death but said they suspected no foul play.

Filmmaker Bendjelloul rose to international fame last year when his debut feature film, Searching for Sugar Man, won an Oscar for best documentary. The film tells the story of Detroit-based singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, who had flopped in the United States but became a superstar in apartheid-era South Africa without even knowing about it.