Lisa's 'Always Lalisa' Documentary Opens Oct. 12 in Theaters

Director Sue Kim's documentary "Always Lalisa" opens in theaters Monday, Oct. 12, built on a year of unscripted access to Blackpink member Lisa Manobal during a 2025 controversy over leaked trainee videos, according to BBC News. The film tracks Lisa, born Pranpriya Manobal in Thailand, as she launched her solo album "Alter Ego" while the scandal unfolded around her.

What surfaced in the leaked videos, and when?

The clips, which emerged in 2025, showed Blackpink members using racial slurs — including the n-word, left uncensored — while covering U.S. rap songs during rehearsals as teenage trainees, the BBC reports. The footage resurfaced just as Lisa was rehearsing for a performance at the 2025 Coachella Festival, a booking the BBC describes as pivotal to her solo launch. Kim told the BBC the timing meant Lisa's team moved into "crisis mode" almost immediately.

What did Lisa say when the cameras were rolling?

Kim followed Lisa into her dressing room and asked a single question, expecting a refusal. Instead, Lisa lay down on a sofa and spoke for roughly an hour, per the BBC account. "It's bad," Lisa says in the film, before explaining she was "15 or 16" when the clips were recorded and "didn't know that [word] was sensitive because I'm from Thailand and my first language is not English." She told Kim she had only encountered the term in rap lyrics and was unaware of its history: "Now I would never ever do that because, now, I've got education. Now I know better. But I did wrong."

"There was no premeditation on Lisa's part, there was no media training," Kim told the BBC. "I asked her one question and she just talked for an hour, and everything came out, and it's all stream of consciousness."

Kim called the scene "one of the most important" in the film, arguing the lack of PR polish is what makes it land. Lisa has since apologized publicly in a Variety interview, the BBC notes, though some critics remained unconvinced.

Why didn't Blackpink's label let the group respond right away?

According to the BBC, the band's record label barred members from issuing a statement even as fans pressed for one, leaving Lisa to process the fallout largely off-camera-turned-on-camera, in Kim's telling. That gap between public demand for comment and corporate silence is the tension the documentary sits inside, with Kim's one-hour, one-question interview functioning as the closest thing to an immediate response captured on film.

How far does the documentary go into the backlash?

Past the slur controversy, the BBC reports the film shows Lisa receiving death threats during the solo album rollout and pressing ahead with public appearances despite what she describes as safety concerns "spinning in my head." She tells Kim she has to "take [criticism] and compromise" to a point, "but sometimes, it's too much." The film also captures Lisa being scolded by her vocal coach and reacting to negative reviews — moments the BBC frames as unusually unguarded for a celebrity profile of this scale.

What is a K-pop "trainee," and why does it matter here?

The leaked footage dates to Lisa's time as a trainee — the multi-year period, often starting in the early teens, during which K-pop labels house, educate, and drill aspiring idols in singing, dancing, and language before any public debut. Because trainees are typically minors cut off from normal schooling and heavily supervised by their label, Lisa's explanation that she picked up the slur from rap songs without understanding its weight is tied directly to that closed training environment, which the BBC's reporting treats as context rather than excuse.

When and where can audiences see it?

"Always Lalisa" reaches cinemas on Monday, Oct. 12, per the BBC, positioning the release to land in the same news cycle as renewed attention on Lisa's crossover profile from Blackpink and her role on HBO's "The White Lotus." Kim spent roughly a year with Lisa, covering the solo-career launch that ran during a break in Blackpink's group activities, the outlet reports.