“Being Heumann,” a film about Judith Heumann, one of the foremost advocates for disability rights in US history, will premier showing at the Toronto International Film Festival as a part of a “gala reception” on 10 September 2026. It is slated to be in limited release 6 November and more broadly 13 November 2026.
The movie borrows the title of Ms. Heumannn’s 2020 autobiography (with Kristen Joyner), and it credits Sian Heder (the director), Ms. Heumann, and Ms. Joiner as writers, so it promises to be accurate, but it is a movie so it should show some new views of Ms. Heumann’s advocacy. Indeed, the accompanying trailer for the movie provides at least one such instance.
Learn more
The IMDB entry for Being Heumann
Wikipedia’s page about the film, Being Heumann
The Web site, Judith Heumann
Ms. Heder is no stranger to movies about disabilities. As indicated in the teaser shown here, she directed CODA, the well-received film about a hearing child of deaf parents. (See SET 15 August 2021 for a story about its release.)
Ms. Heumann was not only someone who lived the life of an individual with a disability and advocated for the rights of those with disabilities. She directed a government organization—she was US Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services—and co-founded the non-profit World Institute on Disability. Readers may wish to review the remembrance of her from Special Education Today: “Judith Heumann, powerful advocate, died 4 March 2023: Why walk when you can fly?”
I hope that people will show up in great numbers to see this film. Wouldn’t it be great if there were parties and dancing in the streets at the theaters when it opens?