Overview

• Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery premieres in the U.S. on Sept. 21 via Hulu and Disney+.
• Directed by Ally Pankiw, the documentary debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 13.
• The film draws on more than 600 hours of archival material and new interviews with Sarah McLachlan, performers like the Indigo Girls, Sheryl Crow and Erykah Badu, and behind-the-scenes crew.
• It recounts the festival’s origins in resistance to radio and promoter bias against consecutive women artists, its cross-genre lineups, and the career boosts it provided to rising stars.
• It details the tour’s financial success and philanthropy—top-grossing festival of 1997 at $16 million, $52 million by 1999, over $10 million to women’s charities—alongside critiques on early lineup diversity, protests including over Planned Parenthood booths, a 1998 bomb threat, and the faltering 2010 revival.