JOHN LENNON : THE LAST INTERVIEW © Yoko Ono Lennon and Nishi Saimaru
From Sex, Lies, and Videotape to John Lennon : The Last Interview, a look back on Steven Soderbergh
In 1989, a young, 26-year-old American filmmaker turned the Festival de Cannes upside down. With Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Steven Soderbergh became the second youngest director to win the Palme d’or, just behind Louis Malle. Since then, he has worked on a number of projects which have very frequently brought him back to Cannes. This year, he is presenting a Special Screening of his documentary John Lennon : The Last Interview. Let’s take a look back at his liberating and elusive Cannes filmography.
1989: Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Steven Soderbergh on his Palme d’or win in 1989
Eight days. That’s how long it took Steven Soderbergh to write his first movie, Sex, Lies, and Videotape. In the movie, he creates a mechanism of observation and a particularly modern sense of unease by incorporating the video itself into the heart of the story. This feature film received international acclaim and led him to the holy grail: the Palme d’or in 1989.
1993: King of the Hill
The King of the Hill poster
Four years after his win, Soderbergh was back in Competition with King of the Hill, a film that takes place during The Great Depression in the United States. Adapted from A. E. Hotchner’s autobiography, the feature film follows the story of a young boy confronted with instability and isolation in the America of the 1930s.
1993–1999: The Limey and Ocean’s Thirteen
The Red Carpet Ceremony for Ocean’s Thirteen
Steven Soderbergh then worked on a number of different projects. With The Limey, presented Out of Competition in 1999, he deconstructed a traditional revenge story by using unorthodox editing techniques, playing with disjointed timelines and mismatched sound and images.
From there, he saw huge commercial success with the Ocean’s series with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia and Julia Roberts. In 2007, Ocean’s Thirteen was shown Out of Competition at the Festival.
2008–2013: Che and Behind the Candelabra
Photocall - Behind the Candelabra
In 2008, he was back in Competition with Che, an ambitious epic about Che Guevara. Headed by Benicio del Toro, who won the Award for Best Actor at Cannes, the film blends black and white images, archives and reconstructions in an attempt to examine this revolutionary figure.
A few years later, Soderbergh surprised everyone again with Behind the Candelabra, presented in Competition in 2013. A rare TV Film to be in the running for the Palme d’or, the project examining the pianist Liberace was more evidence of the director’s love for hybrid styles and marginal stories.
2026 : John Lennon : the Last Interview
Photo from the film “John Lennon : The Last Interview”
This year, Steven Soderbergh is back at Cannes with John Lennon : The Last Interview, presented in a Special Screening. The documentary captures an extraordinary moment in music history: the final in-depth interview with John Lennon a few hours before he was murdered on December 8, 1980. The documentary presents the complete interview for the first time, framed by reflections from those who were present on that day. Steven Soderbergh also used generative AI to complete some parts of the documentary.
