Oscar-winning director Malik Bendjelloul dies at 36

Oscar-winning film-maker Malik Bendjelloul has died aged 36, police confirmed today.

Bendjelloul shot to stardom with music documentary Searching for Sugar Man, for which he won an Academy Award last year. The director died in Stockholm late last night, Swedish police said, but they did not reveal the cause of death. A police spokesman said no crime was suspected.

Searching for Sugar Man told the story of Mexican-American folk-rocker Sixto Rodriguez, a cult hero in apartheid-era South Africa.

Rodriguez said he was “shocked” to hear of Bendjelloul’s death, and paid tribute to a “fantastic person”. Jan Goransson, spokesman for the Swedish Film Institute, said Bendjelloul was “one of our most exciting film-makers”.