Judith Heumann, special advisor for International Disability Rights at the U.S. Department of State, speaks at the opening session of the China-U.S. Coordination Meeting on Disability in Beijing, April 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool, File)

2026-07-07T14:00:40Z

NEW YORK (AP) — “Being Heumann,” director Siân Heder’s film about the late disability rights activist Judith Heumann, will open the 51st Toronto International Film Festival.

Festival organizers announced Tuesday that “Being Heumann,” starring Ruth Madeley as Heumann, will make its world premiere on the opening night of the Canadian festival Sept. 10. The festival runs through Sept. 20.

Heumann, who died in 2023, has been called the “mother of the disability rights movement” for her longtime advocacy and for lobbying for what eventually led to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Heumann, who lost the ability to walk at age 2, was also a central figure in the Oscar-nominated 2020 film “Crip Camp.”

“Being Heumann” is Heder’s follow-up to the 2021 film “CODA,” which won best picture at the Academy Awards. The win marked a milestone for the deaf community and signaled the first time a streamer, Apple, won Hollywood’s top award. Apple is also releasing “Being Heumann.”

“We’re thrilled to open this year’s Festival with Siân Heder’s inspiring follow-up to her Oscar winning ‘CODA,’” Cameron Bailey, chief executive of TIFF, said in a statement. “‘Being Heumann’ features an electric performance from Ruth Madeley in the story of Judy Heumann, a world-changing advocate for accessibility.”

The festival, one of the premiere launching pads of fall movies, also announced gala world premieres of Susanna White’s legal thriller “Prima Facie,” starring Cynthia Erivo, and of Hur Jin-ho’s Korean thriller “The Assassin(s).”

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The story has been updated to correct that the film “Crip Camp” was from 2020, not 2000.