The Film: Hand-written during an eight-day road trip by a Soderbergh hovering on the fringes of the filmmaking industry. sex, lies was the film that jump-started the same early '90s US indie wave that carried the likes of Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith to prominence.

The film itself is an intense, erotically-charged drama that's intellectual rather than explicit, Soderbergh's smart, sleazy script brought to life by four measured lead performances.

It was the perfect fit for Manhattan distributor Miramax, who scored their first big hit with the indie, which won the Palme D'Or at Cannes. Sickeningly, Soderbergh was just 26.

Soderbergh Speaks: “When I arrived in Los Angeles, I gave the script to my agent, not knowing what she would think. She liked it a lot and the positive reaction on the part of the producers was pretty immediate - to the extent that this was a film about sexuality, with four young and attractive characters, which could be made for just about one million dollars, which is not a great deal of risk.”