After its inspiring premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last week, AFI announced today that Apple Original Films’ Being Heumann will close the 40th edition of AFI FEST on October 25.
The biographical drama is directed, produced, and co-written by Academy Award winner Siân Heder (CODA) and adapts Judith Heumann’s memoir, Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist.
Led by BAFTA nominee Ruth Madeley as Judith Heumann, the film also stars Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo, Dylan O’Brien, Madeline Delp, Rob Delaney, Ray Fisher, Michael Patrick Thornton, Antwan Tolliver, Daniel Durant, Jon Beavers, Roberta Colindrez, and Russell Harvard.
Set in 1977, the film follows Heumann, a young disabled woman who led the occupation of the San Francisco Federal Building. What began as a somewhat impulsive decision evolved into the longest occupation of a federal building in American history, as hundreds of protesters seized government offices and refused to leave until their voices were heard.
“It means a great deal to me to return to AFI, where I first found my voice as a filmmaker. The school and the festival are very meaningful to me, so this feels like a full circle moment,” said Heder, a 2005 graduate of AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women. “This film gave me the opportunity to tell the wild story of the 504 protest and its leader, Judy Heumann, a woman whose work changed the lives of millions and whose fight continues today. I hope audiences and fellow filmmakers get to fall in love with Judy as I did and perhaps even carry the mantle of her fight.”
Being Heumann is set for a limited theatrical release on November 6 before hitting Apple TV on November 13.
