Apple Original Films has released the trailer for Being Heumann, an upcoming biographical drama from Academy Award–winning filmmaker Siân Heder, best known for CODA.
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and will receive a Gala presentation at the BFI London Film Festival before hitting select theaters on November 6, 2026, and streaming globally on Apple TV+ on November 13. Being Heumann is based on true events and co-adapted from disability rights activist Judy Heumann’s memoir, Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist.
The film centers on one of the most significant and underrecognized moments in American civil rights history. In April 1977, after federal officials repeatedly delayed signing regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, legislation that prohibited discrimination against disabled individuals in federally funded programs, Heumann and a coalition of more than 100 disabled activists occupied the San Francisco Federal Building.
What began as a peaceful protest became a 25-day siege, the longest nonviolent occupation of a federal building in U.S. history. An interesting thread from the film and story is the coalition that kept the occupation alive. When federal officials moved to cut off the building’s water, electricity, and payphones in an attempt to force the protesters out, support came from an unexpected place.
The Black Panther Party, recognizing disability rights as inseparable from the broader struggle for human dignity, began delivering daily hot meals and supplies to the activists inside. Central to that bridge was Brad Lomax, a Black Panther member who was himself disabled and had been a key organizer in bringing the two movements together. Lomax’s presence inside the building made the partnership personal rather than political, a genuine expression of solidarity between communities that understood what it meant to be shut out by the same institutions.
Heumann and Lomax’s collaboration is one of the more remarkable and underreported chapters of the 504 Sit-In, and the film gives it the attention it deserves.
Ruth Madeley leads the cast as Judy Heumann, with Mark Ruffalo playing the unyielding federal official standing in their path. The ensemble also includes Dylan O’Brien, Ray Fisher, Daniel Durant, Russell Harvard, Michael Patrick Thornton, Madeline Delp, Roberta Colindrez, Jon Beavers, Antwan Tolliver, Will Brill, and Rob Delaney.
Being Heumann is written by Heder alongside Rebekah Taussig. It opens in select theaters November 6, 2026, and streams on Apple TV+ beginning November 13. Check out the trailer below.
