Malik Bendjelloul (14 September 1977 – 13 May 2014) was a Swedish documentary filmmaker, journalist and former child actor.Rohter, Larry (20 July 2012)

Retrieved 26 February 2013.Swedish Film Institute Database: ''Malik Bendjelloul''
Retrieved 26 February 2013. He directed the 2012 documentary ''

Searching for Sugar Man ''Searching for Sugar Man'' is a 2012 documentary film about a South African cultural phenomenon, written and directed by Malik Bendjelloul, which details the efforts in the late 1990s of two Cape Town fans, Stephen "Sugar" Segerman and Craig ...

'', which won an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

and a

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...

Early life

Bendjelloul was born in

Ystad Ystad (; older da, Ysted) is a town and the seat of Ystad Municipality, in Scania County, Sweden. Ystad had 18,350 inhabitants in 2010. The settlement dates from the 11th century and has become a busy ferryport, local administrative centre, a ...

in Sweden, east of

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...

, the son of Algerian-born physician Hacène Bendjelloul and Swedish translator and painter Veronica Schildt Bendjelloul. He was the brother of journalist Johar Bendjelloul and the nephew of actors

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and Johan Schildt. Bendjelloul grew up in central and southern Sweden (

Ängelholm Ängelholm is a locality and the seat of Ängelholm Municipality in Skåne, Sweden with 39,612 inhabitants in 2010. History The old settlement ''Rynestad'' was mentioned around the year 1600. The city was founded in 1516 as Engelholm by King Chri ...

) and during the 1990s acted in the SVT TV series '' Ebba och Didrik'' as Philip Clavelle. The episodes were directed by his uncle, Peter Schildt. Bendjelloul was educated at the Rönne Gymnasium in Ängelholm, where he entered the social science programme. He graduated in 1996. He then attended Kalmar University, where he studied journalism and media production.

Career

Bendjelloul started his television career as a reporter on Swedish public television (SVT), where he worked as a freelancer and journalist for '' Kobra''. His career also included working as a host for the breakfast television programme '' Gomorron Sverige'' as well as for the morning radio programme '' P1-morgon'' for Sveriges Radio. Prior to working for SVT, he also worked for an independent production company, Barracuda Film & TV. Subsequently, he left the job to direct documentaries on musicians including Elton John, Rod Stewart, Björk and Kraftwerk. Bendjelloul's documentary ''

'' won the 2013 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Bendjelloul also won the 2013

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

Producers Guild of America The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 8,000 members of the producing establishment w ...

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Gu ...

, American Cinema Editors, the Sundance audience and special jury accolades and the 2012 International Documentary Association awards. Eventually, the documentary achieved commercial success as well and made $3.6 million (£2.7 million) at the box office. The film documents the revival of

Sixto Rodriguez Sixto Diaz Rodriguez (born July 10, 1942), known professionally as Rodriguez, is an American singer-songwriter from Detroit, Michigan. Though his career was initially met with little fanfare in the United States, he found success in South Afric ...

's musical career. In 2013, Bendjelloul was invited to host a show on the Swedish radio show ''

Sommar i P1 ''Sommar i P1'' (''Summer on P1'') is one of the most popular shows on Swedish radio. It has been broadcast every summer since 29June 1959, originally as ''Sommar'' on P3 and since 1993 on P1. About Each 90-minute-long programme in the series ...

'', where he told the listeners about the process behind ''Searching for Sugar Man''.Sveriges Radio "Sommar i P1: ''Summary in English: "You've only got three months"''
Retrieved 14 May 2014.

Death

At rush hour on 13 May 2014 Malik Bendjelloul committed suicide by throwing himself in front of an oncoming train at the

Solna centrum metro station Solna centrum is a shopping mall and metro station in Solna Municipality, approximately from central Stockholm, Sweden. It is close to the Friends Arena and opened on 31 August 1975 as part the first stretch of the Blue Line between T-Centralen ...

in Stockholm after struggling with depression, as reported by his brother Johar. At the time of his death, he was working on a film project based on

Lawrence Anthony Lawrence Anthony (17 September 1950 – 2 March 2012) was an international conservationist, environmentalist, explorer and bestselling author. He was the long-standing head of conservation at the Thula Thula animal reserve in Zululand, Sout ...

's book '' The Elephant Whisperer''.

Filmography

*''Ebba och Didrik'' (1990) (actor) *''

'' (2012) (director)

References

External links

*
Malik Benjelloul's Sommar i P1 programme
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bendjelloul, Malik 1977 births 2014 deaths BAFTA winners (people) Directors of Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners Directors of Best Documentary Feature Guldbagge Award winners Swedish documentary film directors Swedish film directors Swedish screenwriters Swedish male screenwriters Swedish male child actors Swedish people of Algerian descent People from Ystad Municipality Suicides in Sweden 20th-century Swedish male actors People from Ystad People from Ängelholm Municipality Suicides by train Linnaeus University alumni 2014 suicides