Lilith Fair Reexamined: ABC News Studios Brings Documentary on Iconic Festival to Hulu and Disney+

"Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery" will make its Hulu and Disney+ premiere on September 21st, 2025.

ABC News Studios has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, a documentary focusing on Sarah McLachlan’s 1990s all-female music festival.

What’s Happening:

  • The new documentary, Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, will be coming to Hulu and Disney+ in the U.S. on September 21st.
  • Directed by Ally Pankiw and commissioned by Canada’s CBC network, the film will first premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
  • An international release date on Disney+ will come later this year, said to coincide with McLachlan’s first studio album in over a decade, Better Broken, and a Canadian concert tour.
  • A theatrical release of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery is also planned in Canada via Elevation Pictures.
  • Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery tells the untold story of the groundbreaking music festival featuring only women artists, started by iconic Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan and her team in the late 1990s, in opposition to systemic industry barriers that limited women from playing together on a concert bill and getting back-to-back airplay on the radio.
  • The documentary pulls from over 600 hours of never-before-seen archival footage, interviews and stories from fans, festival organizers and artists of Lilith Fair.
  • Among those original artists reunited in the documentary are Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Erykah Badu, Paula Cole, Jewel, Mýa, Natalie Merchant, Indigo Girls and Emmylou Harris, who all sit down for new interviews.
  • A new generation of artists who have carried the torch, including Brandi Carlile and Olivia Rodrigo, among others, are also featured.

What They’re Saying:

  • Sarah McLachlan: “I’m so filled with pride and nostalgia watching this film. 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."
  • Debra OConnell, president, ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks: “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. 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."

More from ABC News:

  • During a 2016 vacation to Zambia, paradise quickly turned tragic after the suspicious death of Bianca Randolph. Check out our review of ABC News Studios’ newest true-crime docuseries, Trophy Wife: Murder on Safari.
  • A trio of gripping new true-crime series from ABC News Studios are coming to Hulu in August.
  • ABC News is introducing a new Disney+ exclusive weekday news show, hosted by James Longman and Rachel Scott.
  • Check out Maxon’s review of a new Hulu docuseries from ABC News Studios that takes audiences deep into the mysterious disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit.

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