Searching for Sugar Man is a documentary film detailing the quest of two men from Cape Town as they attempt to track down American musician gone AWOL, Sixto Rodriguez (pictured). Popular in South Africa in the 1970s, Rodriguez never received such recognition domestically, and by the 1990s rumours emerged that he had set fire to himself on stage and died. However, such an assumption was never to be verified, leaving fans dubious. Searching for Sugar Man premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year and has since won itself a host of awards, including a Bafta and Academy Award for Best Documentary. Impressive, seeing as the budget was so limited that the 8mm film used initially for elegant, stylised shots had to be discarded, and instead some of the final scenes were recorded using an iPhone app. After the success of previous film nights, such as the screening of cult favourite Drive, Now Wave have once again teamed up with the folk at Gorilla to present a one-off showing of this little gem.

Fri 30 Aug, Gorilla, 54-56 Whitworth Street, M1 5WW, 8pm, £8, www.thisisgorilla.com, www.seetickets.com

Fri 30 Aug
Words:
Jess Hardiman
Published on:
Wed 26 Jun 2013