ABC News Studios has picked up the U.S. rights to Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, director Ally Pankiw’s feature documentary about Sarah McLachlan’s 1990s all-female music festival.
On the heels of a world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Canada’s CBC network, which commissioned the project, will air the indie doc on Sept. 17 as part of its The Passionate Eye series. Then, in the U.S., Hulu and Disney+ will stream the title from Sept. 21, with Disney+ also streaming the documentary internationally, excluding Canada.
The film will coincide with McLachlan launching her first studio album of new music in over a decade, Better Broken, on Sept. 19 and a Canadian concert tour.
“I’m so filled with pride and nostalgia watching this film,” McLachlan said about the Lilith Fair doc in a statement. “Ally and the team have beautifully captured the magic and strength of a community of women who came together and lifted each other up to create positive change in the world. I hope the film resonates with everyone and we can continue to strive to support and champion one another.”
Dan Levy’s Not a Real Production Company and indie Canadian distributor Elevation Pictures are co-producing the documentary with interviews by McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile, Erykah Badu, Bonnie Raitt, Jewel and Olivia Rodrigo, among others. The film is presented by White Horse Pictures, in association With Epic Magazine.
“This film has been a labor of love for Sarah, Dan and Ally as well as the many talented teams who have been a part of it. Diane Sawyer and everyone at ABC News Studios are excited to be a part of the journey.” Debra OConnell, president, ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks, said in a statement. “Much like Lilith Fair itself, this project is the result of a wonderful collaboration among artists, producers and storytellers who have come together to chronicle one of the most defining moments in music over the past 30 years.”
The first Lilith Fair, which McLachlan spearheaded to defy a male-dominated music industry that couldn’t envision more than one woman performing on a concert stage or on a radio playlist, kicked off on July 5, 1997. Over a quarter-century later, the film, authorized by McLachlan and inspired by the 2019 Vanity Fair article Building a Mystery: An Oral History of Lilith Fair, by writers Jessica Hopper, Sasha Geffen and Jenn Pelly, and Epic Magazine, will have a glitzy world premiere at Roy Thomson Hall during TIFF.
“Lilith Fair holds a very special place in my heart,” Dan Levy added in a statement. “It was one of the first spaces where I remember feeling at home. The music, the sense of community, and the power of a group of women proving an entire industry wrong was a tremendous thing to experience. What Sarah built with that festival changed so much for so many people. And while it is now seen as an odds-defying success story, it was an uphill battle every step of the way. And there is a lot to be learned from that story. it’s an honor to be working alongside Sarah on this and I am excited for everyone to understand just how revolutionary Lilith Fair really was.”
Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery draws on over 600 hours of never-before-seen archival footage, interviews and stories from fans, festival organizers and artists of Lilith Fair, an antidote to mainstream tours like Lollapalooza dominated by flashy male artists. Despite being a commercial success over an initial three summers, the documentary recounts how the Lilith Fair tour saw its first female headliners often marginalized and the event itself become a cultural punchline on Saturday Night Live.
The lesson of Lilith Fair — that women artists could have their own stage on which to perform and feel safe — will be front and centre as the Canadian documentary launches in Toronto. Pankiw has credits that include I Used to Be Funny and Black Mirror, and ties to Hulu after directing episodes of its Shrill and The Great series. Pankiw also helmed the full first season of the Netflix comedy Feel Good, starring Mae Martin.
Sales agent White Horse Pictures is shopping the film internationally, while Elevation Pictures also set to release the Lilith Fair doc theatrically in Canada.
The film is produced by Levy and Christina Piovesan, with White Horse Pictures’ Cassidy Hartmann, Nicholas Ferrall, Nigel Sinclair, along with Jeanne Elfant Festa, Noah Segal, Jessica Hopper, Arthur Spector, Joshuah Bearman, Joshua Davis, Pankiw, Steve Cohen, Paula Froehle and Wayne Isaak sharing executive producer credits. Rachel McLean serves as supervising producer and the cinematographer is Nina Djacic.
The film is backed by McLachlan’s Lilith Fair co-founders Terry McBride, Dan Fraser and Marty Diamond, who will executive produce alongside Lynne Stopkewich, Jessica Fraser and Dean English.
The documentary is presented by Chicago Media Project and produced in association with Epic Magazine, Carlene Laughlin, Minderoo Pictures and the Elfant Festa Family.