Searching For Sugar Man Will See Late July Release

Malik Benjelloul’s Sundace acclaimed documentary, Searching For Sugarman, will see a release date of July 22.

The strange but true rock doc tells the tale of Sixto Rodriguez, a folk musician from Detroit who slipped into obscurity in the ’70s only to be tracked down and told that he was bigger than Elvis in South Africa.

The story goes that in the late ’60s, Rodriguez was discovered in a bar by two celebrated Motown producers. They signed him and went to work on an album that they believed would secure Rodriguez a place as one of the greatest American songwriters. Instead the album bombed and Rodriguez was rumored to have killed himself onstage. But a bootleg of the album made its way to South Africa during Apartheid, inspiring protest musicians and gaining Rodriguez a legacy in South Africa that rivals The Beatles.

Fast forward to the 1997. Two South African fans set out to find what really happened to Rodriguez. They track him to Detroit and break the news about his popularity. The documentary captures the odd story and the subsequent sold-out concerts Rodriguez held in South Africa.

While the film is director Benjelloul’s first full-length, he had previously worked on short documentaries about Elton John, Madonna, Bjork and more. Check out a clip from the documentary below.