The Toronto International Film Festival announced this year's Gala and Special Presentations programmes set to premiere this September for its 50th edition, which icludes a much-anticipated documentary on Sarah McLachlan's iconic Lilith Fair music festival.
Directed by Ally Pankiw (I Used to Be Funny, Black Mirror), Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery will receive its world premiere at TIFF, alongside other documentaries including Baz Luhrmann's EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert and Lisa Rideout's Degrassi: Whatever It Takes, which will feature an appearance by former cast member Aubrey Graham (aka Drake).
Update: Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery will premiere on CBC as part of its The Passionate Eye series on September 17. It will then head to Hulu and Disney+ where it will begin streaming on September 21.
The documentary was written by music journalists Jessica Hopper, Sasha Geffen and Jenn Pelly, and features more than 600 hours of archival footage, interviews, and stories from fans, festival organizers, and artists who played Lilith Fair, including McLachlan, Erykah Badu, Brandi Carlile, Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, The Indigo Girls, Jewel, Natalie Merchant, Mýa, and Bonnie Raitt, along with Olivia Rodrigo, who cites Lilith Fair as an influence.
“I’m so filled with pride and nostalgia watching this film,” McLachlan said 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.”
According to CBC, which commissioned the doc, Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery "tells the story of the groundbreaking music festival featuring only women artists, started by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan and her team in the late-1990s in direct opposition to the prevailing 'industry wisdom' that limited women from playing together on a concert bill and getting back-to-back airplay on the radio."
McLachlan first launched Lilith Fair back in 1996 as a four-date test to prove a point that there was a place in the touring market for an female-focused music festival. The following year the tour expanded to 37 dates featuring 69 artists across multiple stages. The festival continued throughout 1998 and 1999 before stopping. There was renewed interest for another edition of the festival in 2010, but it was subject to dates being cancelled and artists pulling out of shows.
Performers who graced the stage throughout its time include Bonnie Raitt, Tracy Chapman, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, Dido, Indigo Girls, Jewel, Nelly Furtado, Erykah Badu, Sinéad O’Connor, Meshell Ndegeocello, Aimee Mann, The Pretenders, Christina Aguilera, Dixie Chicks, Fiona Apple, Liz Phair, Diana Krall, Queen Latifah, Tegan and Sara, and many more.
The doc is based on a Vanity Fair article from 2019 titled "Building A Mystery: An Oral History of Lilith Fair" and was made with the "full support and authorization" of Sarah McLachlan. It was produced by Dan Levy's Not A Real Production Company, along with Elevation Pictures and White Horse Pictures in association with Epic Magazine.
About the film, Pankiw says, "Lilith Fair exemplifies the ‘cool older sister’ of the music industry, who already knows the joys and nightmares of being a woman and tries to make the path a little bit easier for future generations. I want to give a deeper understanding of the festival to the young female, non-binary and queer musicians and music fans who picked up a guitar or tickets to a concert for the first time because Lilith showed them how."