'Searching For Sugar Man' Director Dies Aged 36

The death of Searching For Sugar Man director Malik Bendjelloul on Tuesday has sent shockwaves throughout the international filmmaking community, with the subject raised several times during proceedings at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday, according to deadline.com.

The 36-year-old's death this week was not ruled as suspicious by police, with his older brother, Johan, yesterday telling Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet Today that Malik had taken his own life, and that his sibling had endured a brief struggle with depression.

"I can confim that it was suicide and that he had been depressed for a short period of time," he told the paper. "Life is not always so easy ... I don't know how to handle it."

Film industry personalities and Cannes jurors Nicholas Winding Refn and Gael Garcia Bernal openly mourned the loss, Deadline says, while Rodriguez - the enigmatic musician on whom Searching For Sugar Man is centred - has also expressed his grief over the director's death.

Bendjelloul shot to prominence in 2012 with his documentary, which dominated that year's awards season, picking up a slew of nominations and nods as well as its win for Best Documentary. 

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