Sian Heder brings Judy Heumann’s story to screen

Sian Heder’s “Being Heumann” opens the Toronto Film Festival with an inspiring story about people with disabilities who, through determination, courage and unwavering commitment, achieved what seemed impossible, Reuters reported Friday.

“Being Heumann” tells the story of Judy Heumann, the late American activist widely known as “the mother of the disability rights movement,” as she led a group of people with disabilities in a fight against apathy and discrimination that resulted in the longest occupation of a federal building in U.S. history, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

“She led a group of 100 people with disabilities into a federal building and occupied that building until the first disability rights law was passed. So, she is someone that everyone should know,” Heder told Reuters on the red carpet before the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“I think all of her work was about making invisible people visible and bringing a light, and not just bringing a light, but creating the difficult change of inclusion, and that’s what we’re doing here,” Heder said.

Screenwriter and director Sian Heder won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2022 for “CODA,” a coming-of-age film about the only hearing member of a deaf family.

Daniel Durant, who received critical acclaim for his role in that film, immediately embraced the opportunity to work with Heder again.

“She really is a magician, and you can see that on screen,” he said.

The 1977 San Francisco sit-in lasted 26 days and forced then-U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph Califano Jr. to sign regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which guaranteed access and protections for people with disabilities.

British actress Ruth Madeley portrays Heumann, while American star Mark Ruffalo plays Califano. Most of the film’s cast members are actors with disabilities.

“I think bringing so many different sides of Judy (Heumann) into the film... People know her as this fierce activist who changed the world, so being able to show her funny side, her wild side, her humor, her joy—all of that—is really special and important

Photo: Instagram/sianheder.director