Swedish-British production Searching for Sugar Man , about the search for American folk icon Sixto Rodriguez, won the best documentary feature Oscar while documentary short trophy went to Inocente .

In the early 1970s, A&M released two albums by a singer-songwriter known only as Rodriguez, who dropped out of sight and was rumoured to have died after the records failed to sell.

When Rodriguez unexpectedly attracted a cult following during the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, two of his ardent fans decided to track down the truth behind his disappearance from the music scene and discovered that he was working as a builder in Detroit.

Sugar Man , directed by Malik Bendjelloul, beat off competition from 5 Broken Cameras , The Gatekeepers , How to Survive a Plague and The Invisible War .

This is the first Academy Award nomination for Bendjelloul while Simon Chinn, the producer, previously won for Man On Wire in 2008.

Inocente , by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine, is about 15-year-old girl, a homeless, undocumented immigrant, who clings to her determination to become an artist in the face of a bleak future.

This was the second Academy Award nomination for both Sean and Andrea, who brought Inocente on stage to accept their Oscar trophies and hoped that art will be recognised and valued.

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