Searching for Sugar Man, the documentary about forgotten singer turned construction worker Sixto Rodriguez, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary last night. Rodriguez released two albums in the early Seventies, neither sold particularly well and he disappeared into obscurity. But his 1970 deb...
Searching for Sugar Man, the documentary about forgotten singer turned construction worker Sixto Rodriguez, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary last night.
Rodriguez released two albums in the early Seventies, neither sold particularly well and he disappeared into obscurity. But his 1970 debut album Cold Fact had a unique afterlife: it became a touchstone of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Search For Sugar Man explores that album’s impact in South Africa and also what became of the singer.
The film’s success has done much to revive the fortunes of Rodriguez, who played London’s Royal Albert Hall last November and is booked to perform at Glastonbury and Primavera festivals this summer.
Other winners at this year’s Academy Awards were:
BEST PICTURE

Argo
BEST DIRECTOR

Life Of Pi – Ang Lee



BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained

BEST ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables 

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Brave
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Chris Terrio – Argo

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
