We were lucky enough to be invited over to the cosy environs of The Mercer in Covent Garden to sit down for a chat with Searching For Sugar Man director Malik Bendjelloul, in town to promote the DVD release of his documentary-feature debut. Spanning decades and continents, Searching For Sugar Man is a compellingly unusual story, and we wanted to know more about Bendjelloul’s experience with its unlikely star, the eternally sunglassed Rodriguez.

Releasing two classic albums in the early seventies to minor critical acclaim but non-existent commercial success in the US, reclusive singer-guitarist Rodriguez became something of a popular music myth. Examining his phenomenal popularity overseas and his music’s relative obscurity at home in the US, director Malik Bendjelloul goes in search of the story behind a man dubbed the ‘Mexican Bob Dylan.’