phew! we’ve been working on putting this one together with the newport folk fest ever since january when we saw this incredible film on our first day at sundance!  we’re THRILLED that it’s going to happen… DO NOT miss it. seriously. official release below…  

SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN TO SCREEN AS PART OF NEWPORTFILM’S 2012 SUMMER LINE-UP RODRIGUEZ TO PERFORM AT THE NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL  

New York, NY – June 28, 2012 – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN, directed by Malik Bendjelloul, will screen at newportFILM 2012 in collaboration with the Newport Folk Festival. The film will screen on Saturday, July 28, 2012, 8:00 PM at the Jane Pickens Theater as part of the newportFILM summer line-up. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Malik Bendjelloul and Rodriguez, the subject of the film. Rodriguez will perform as part of the Newport Folk Festival line-up on Sunday, July 29, 2012.

Tickets for the screening can be purchased at http://www.newportfilm.com/films/searching-sugar-man.

SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN has received multiple awards on the film festival circuit including the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Prize and the World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and the Audience Award for Best International Feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film was an official selection for the SXSW Film Festival 2012, the Tribeca Film Festival 2012 and the upcoming Hamptons International Film Festival Summer Docs series hosted by Alec Baldwin.

SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN opens in New York and Los Angeles on July 27, 2012 and will platform nationwide in the following weeks. The SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is set for release on July 24, 2012 through Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. The vinyl version of the soundtrack will be released by Light In The Attic Records.

ABOUT SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN: SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN tells the incredible true story of Rodriguez, the greatest ’70s rock icon who never was. Discovered in a Detroit bar in the late ’60s by two celebrated producers struck by his soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics, they recorded an album which they believed would secure his reputation as the greatest recording artist of his generation. In fact, the album bombed and the singer disappeared into obscurity amid rumors of a gruesome on-stage suicide. But a bootleg recording found its way into apartheid South Africa and, over the next two decades, he became a phenomenon. The film follows the story of two South African fans who set out to find out what really happened to their hero. Their investigation leads them to a story more extraordinary than any of the existing myths about the artist known as Rodriguez. Directed by Malik Bendjelloul.

ABOUT newportFILM AND THE NEWPORT FILK FESTIVAL: newportFILM was founded in 2010 to nurture discovery and encourage community dialogue through the art of film with a focus on documentaries that increase awareness of environmental and social issues.  Each summer newportFILM partners with other arts and non-profit organizations, like the Newport Folk Festival, and often brings films out of the traditional theater setting to unique, site-specific locations. Joining the ranks of Searching for Sugarman at newportFILM’s 2012 summer-long program are some of the year’s best-of-festival films. Ethel will be shown on the historic grass courts at the International Tennis Hall of Fame on July 20th with director Rory Kennedy in attendance; The Queen of Versailles will be screened in the Gardens of The Elms, one of Newport’s Gilded Age mansions, on August 2nd with Director Lauren Greenfield in attendance; KNUCKLEBALL! will be shown on July 31st at the Historic Stanford White Casino Theater with Producer Christine Schomer and Red Sox great, Tim Wakefield, in attendance. 

For more information, please call 401-649-2784 or visit online at www.newportFILM.com.

Since 1959, the Newport Folk Festival has presented the very best of this country’s blues, roots, gospel, country, bluegrass, Cajun and traditional folk music. This year’s edition once again pays tribute to the great performers who wrote the proud history of the festival. As in recent years, the festival continues to welcome the next wave of folk voices. Often likened to “coming home” to the very roots of the folk-music tradition, the Newport Folk Festival is an annual favorite of fans and musicians alike. The laid back, at home feel has been known to inspire artists’ spontaneous, on-stage sit-ins as well as unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime, impromptu performances throughout the festival grounds. In addition to Ben Solee, the Newport Folk Festival, produced by Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc., features My Morning Jacket, Jackson Browne, Iron & Wine, Patty Griffin, Conor Oberst, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Dawes, Guthrie Family Reunion, Dawes, Wilco and many more.

For more information, call the festival hotline at (401) 848-5055 or log on to www.newportfolkfest.net.  

Press contact: Scott Feinstein, 212-413-0806, scott.feinstein@42west.net  

For more information: www.sonyclassics.com, www.newportFILM.com, www.newportfolkfest.com                                               

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh-99_1k3mE