Siân Heder's 'Being Heumann' Opens in Theaters November 6

Siân Heder's "Being Heumann," her first film since "CODA" won Best Picture, opens in select theaters on Friday, November 6, with a global Apple TV launch on Friday, November 13.

The biopic of disability rights activist Judy Heumann opened this year's Toronto International Film Festival to strong reviews. Critics praised its unexpectedly light tone, its diverse cast and the breakout lead performance by Ruth Madeley.

What did Heder take on after 'CODA'?

Before the world premiere last month, Heder described her approach to following a Best Picture win: she chose "the hardest story she could imagine trying to tell." She adapted the film from Heumann's autobiography alongside co-writer Rebekah Taussig.

Heumann, who died in 2023, had begun working with Heder on the film two years earlier. Rather than a cradle-to-grave account, the filmmakers focused on a single seminal chapter of her life — one that contextualizes her role in the disability rights movement and, as one review put it, her "singularity as a true American original."

Who carries the film?

Ruth Madeley leads as Heumann, in what critics are calling a breakout performance. The review cited in the source captures the film's central question:

"That Judy has natural presence is a given, but the central question of Heder's film — which she adapted from Heumann's autobiography alongside co-writer Rebekah Taussig — is how she will use all that verve to truly enact change. It's the sort of concern that has always impacted great leaders, and suffice it to say, Heumann was indeed a great leader."

The supporting cast is extensive and notably includes actors with disabilities across many roles:

• Dylan O'Brien
• Madeline Delp
• Roberta Colindrez
• Jon Beavers
• Antwan Tolliver
• Ray Fisher
• Andrew Pilkington
• Michael Patrick Thornton
• Russell Harvard
• Daniel Durant
• Charlie Rush-Reese
• Rio Finnegan
• D'Arcee Charington Neal
• Will Brill
• Rob Delaney
• Matthew August Jeffers
• Siena Rafter
• Rein Barcel

Why does the casting matter?

Heder utilized a massive cast of people of all disabilities — a choice reviewers called both moving and smart, and one that gives the film unexpectedly mass appeal. The final product has been described as a rousing, brisk and genuinely inspiring biopic that, in the words of the source review, "never feels like homework."

The film is also being hailed as a reminder of what cinema can do when stories that need telling are told right — with the communities they depict on screen, not just in subject matter.

With its November theatrical release and global streaming debut a week later, "Being Heumann" will test whether the goodwill from "CODA's" awards run can carry Heder's hardest story yet to the wide audience TIFF reviewers believe it deserves.