Hulu and Disney+ acquire Lilith Fair festival doc from CBC, Dan Levy, Elevation

Paula Cole performing at Lilith Fair

Merri Cyr

Hulu and Disney+ have picked up Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, a Canadian-produced documentary about the women-only music festival founded by singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan in the late 1990s.

The doc, which was commissioned by Canadian public broadcaster CBC last year, is produced by Dan Levy’s Not A Real Production Company and Elevation Pictures for ABC News Studios, and is presented by White Horse Pictures in association with Epic Magazine.

It will debut on CBC as part of its doc strand The Passionate Eye on September 17, in addition to launching on streamer CBC Gem. It will premiere on Hulu in the US and Disney+ internationally on September 21.

The announcement comes after it was revealed earlier this week that the documentary will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this September.

Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery was produced with the support of the festival’s founders, McLachlan, Terry McBride, Dan Fraser and Marty Diamond, and is directed by Ally Pankiw.

The project is inspired by a 2019 article by Vanity Fair and Epic Magazine titled Building a Mystery: An Oral History of Lilith Fair. It uses more than 600 hours of never-before-seen footage, in addition to interviews with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Erykah Badu, Paula Cole, Jewel, Mýa, Natalie Merchant, Indigo Girls, Emmylou Harris, Brandi Carlile and Olivia Rodrigo.