His body was found late on Tuesday in the Stockholm area, police say. They could not confirm the cause of death but said no crime was suspected.

 

He was best known for Searching for Sugar Man which won the Oscar and Bafta prizes for best documentary in 2013.

 

The low-budget film told the story of two South Africans searching for their music hero, 1970s American singer Sixto Rodriguez.

 

Bootleg copies of the singer's album Cold Fact had been an unofficial soundtrack to youth protests against apartheid in the 70s and 80s, but it was believed he had died in a bizarre onstage accident.

 

He was eventually found in Detroit, working on a building site, and persuaded to play a series of triumphant¹ gigs in South Africa, where he was treated like a hero.

 

Speaking to the BBC in 2012, Bendjelloul said the reaction to his film was "beautiful".

 

"People stand up screaming and crying and it's so, so overwhelming. It's hard to find words actually."

 

But the documentary was almost abandoned mid-production, when Bendjelloul ran out of funds.

 

He persevered² and pieced the film together over five years, even shooting some sequences on an iPhone. 

 

"It was an extremely primitive³ production," he said. "It was done on my kitchen table in my apartment in Stockholm without any money at all."

 

He was determined⁴ to complete the project, he added, because "it is the best story I have ever heard in my life, and I think I ever will hear".

 

The film went on to make $3.6m at the US box office.

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