Siân Heder returns with her first feature since the Oscar-winning “CODA,” this time turning to the landmark disability rights movement of the 1970s. Apple Original Films has released the teaser trailer for “Being Heumann,” starring Ruth Madeley as pioneering disability rights activist Judy Heumann.
Based on true events, “Being Heumann” centers on the historic 1977 Section 504 sit-in, when disabled activists occupied a federal building in San Francisco to force the government to implement long-delayed civil rights protections.
Madeley stars as Heumann, who, after finding her calls to government officials ignored, joins a coalition of activists who decide on a more direct approach: taking over the offices themselves. What begins as an act of protest becomes the longest occupation of a federal building in U.S. history, with hundreds refusing to leave until the government acts.
Mark Ruffalo plays the bureaucrat standing between the activists and their demands, while the extensive ensemble includes Dylan O’Brien, Will Brill, Michael Patrick Thornton, Antwan Tolliver, Rein Barcel, Charlie Rush-Reese, D’Arcee Charington Neal, Andrew Pilkington, Rio Finnegan, Daniel Durant, Russell Harvard, Matthew August Jeffers, Jon Beavers, Roberta Colindrez, Siena Rafter, Ray Fisher, Rob Delaney, and Madeline Delp.
Heder directs from a screenplay she co-wrote with Rebekah Taussig. The film marks Heder’s first feature behind the camera since 2021’s “CODA,” which won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for Heder.
David Permut, Kevin J. Walsh, John W. Beach, and Kevin Cleary produce, with Jim LeBrecht, Diana Pokorny, and Ann Molin serving as executive producers.
“Being Heumann” will make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival before opening in select theaters on November 6. It will stream globally on Apple TV beginning November 13. Watch the teaser trailer below.
