10 Best Documentary Movies Of The Last Decade

In 1970, musician Sixto Rodriguez was discovered in a dingy Detroit bar by a record producer who was excited about what he heard. Rodriguez was signed and the album Cold Facts was born. He was meant to be as big as Bob Dylan; but he wasn’t. His record (including his follow-up Coming From Reality) were disastrous failures. The artist was dropped from the label and vanished into complete obscurity.

But then a strange thing happened. Copies of Cold Facts started circulating in Apartheid-era South Africa, and soon Rodriguez’s music would become the soundtrack to a generation and political movement. However, nobody knew what became of the musician. Rumours circulated that he committed suicide on stage, though this only served to bolster the artist’s mythical status.

In Malik Bendjelloul’s Oscar-winning documentary Searching For Sugar Man, two fans from Cape Town set out on a mission to uncover what really happened to their musical hero after he supposedly dropped off the face of the earth. As they follow a breadcrumb trail of clues to unpick a fascinating mystery, viewers likewise discover the power of music first-hand as they see the influence that one person’s work had on an entire country.