Cult Classics: Sex, Lies and Videotape

Subterfuge in suburbia in the four-hander that launched 90s indie cinema

Arc Cinema

8:00PM

$19.50 Full / $16.50 Concession (+$1.50 booking fee)

29 May, 2026

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Cult Classics: Sex, Lies and Videotape 29 May, 2026

1989 | M | DCP | USA | D: Steven Soderbergh

The NFSA presents a series of irreverent, Friday night filmic feasts, curated and hosted by drag artist and culture warrior Venus Mantrap.   

Cult Classics with Venus Mantrap dives into the world of sharp, edgy films and beloved fan favourites. Each event features a pre-screening live performance by Venus in our beautiful art deco Arc Cinema.

Our Cult Classics screenings are often interactive and always full of laughs and surprises. Leave your serious side at home and enjoy a movie night with a twist. And probably a shimmy.

When a withdrawn wife (Andie McDowell) discovers her husband (Peter Gallager) is having an affair with her sister (Laura San Giacomo), she’s drawn to her husband’s best friend (James Spader), who can’t have sex but loves to hear about it.

Winner of Best Picture and Best Actor at Cannes, Steven Soderbergh’s first feature is said to have been written in eight days and shot in five weeks, and is credited with launching the ‘90s indie film boom.

‘Startling is the fact that a film so light on action and heavy on chat can be so achingly funny without having being crafted by a young Woody Allen.’ – Empire

Includes pre-screening introduction and live performance by Venus Mantrap.

Coming up in Cult Classics: Blood Simple (Directors Cut), Scanners, Body Double, Strange Days, The Lair of the White Worm, Death Becomes Her, and Showgirls.

Arc Cinema

We are situated in the heart of Canberra on McCoy Circuit, Acton, between the shores of Lake Burley Griffin and the grounds of the Australian National University. Just a 10-minute walk from the city and state bus interchanges.

1 McCoy Circuit, Acton, ACT 2601

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