Coda director Siân Heder returns with Being Heumann trailer

The latest feature from the Oscar-winner focuses on the Mother of the Disability Rights Movement.

By Drew Gillis  |  September 2, 2026 | 2:08pm
Image courtesy of Apple TV
Film News Being Heumann
Coda director Siân Heder returns with Being Heumann trailer

Back in 2022, Apple became the first streaming service to take home the Oscar for Best Picture with CODA, an intimate family drama from writer-director Siân Heder. Now, the corporation and the filmmaker will see if they can get lighting to strike twice with Being Heumann, which seems like it’ll be significantly bigger in scope, focusing on the disability rights movement in the 1970s and Judy Heumann, a woman now known as the mother of the movement. 

The synopsis for Being Heumann reads: 

They wouldn’t take Judy Heumann’s phone calls, so she took their building. In 1977, a young disabled woman (Ruth Madeley) and a scrappy coalition of outsiders decide they’ve had enough. What begins as one impulsive act becomes the longest occupation of a federal building in American history, as hundreds spontaneously seize government offices and refuse to leave until the bureaucrat in their way (Mark Ruffalo) takes action. Bringing rebellion in all its forms to the hallowed halls, a movement’s accidental leaders struggle to find their path forward where none has ever been paved for them. Directed by Academy Award winner Siân Heder (“CODA”) and based on true events, “Being Heumann” is the revolutionary, irreverent and deeply human story of the least likely people trying to pull off the impossible and change the lives of millions.

Being Heumann opens in theaters on November 6 before hitting Apple TV on November 13.

 
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