Exclaim! deemed Ally Pankiw Canada's next filmmaker to watch in 2023, and it's been revealed that she'll helm a forthcoming official documentary about the Sarah McLachlan-founded travelling music festival Lilith Fair.
Per a release, the film "tells the story of the groundbreaking music festival featuring only women artists," started by McLachlan in the late '90s "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."
Inspired by 2019 Vanity Fair and Epic Magazine feature "Building a Mystery: An Oral History of Lilith Fair," written by Jessica Hopper with Saha Geffen and Jenn Pelly, the film will also examine the backlash against Lilith Fair, which "marginalized Lilith Fair artists and made the tour a cultural punchline" despite its commercial success.
The documentary, made "with the full support and authorization" of McLachlan, will premiere in 2025–26. Commissioned by CBC and produced by Dan Levy's Not a Real Production Company, the film will receive theatrical distribution via Elevation Pictures.
The film also reunites and features interviews with original artists including Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Erykah Badu, Paula Cole, Jewel and Mya, and draws from "more than 600 hours of never-before-seen archival footage."
"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," director Pankiw shared in a statement [via The Hollywood Reporter].
Levy added in a respective statement, "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. I'm thrilled to join Sarah on this adventure and am excited for everyone to understand just how revolutionary Lilith Fair really was."
Director Pankiw made her feature debut last year with I Used to Be Funny. She also directed Black Mirror episode "Joan Is Awful" from the show's sixth series, and previously worked as a story editor on Schitt's Creek.