Being Heumann Apple TV: Release Date, Cast & True Story

“They wouldn’t take Judy Heumann’s phone calls, so she took their building.” That is the line Apple TV leads with for Being Heumann, and it tells you almost everything you need to know about the film. In 1977, a young disabled woman, ignored by the government she was asking for basic rights, walked into a federal building in San Francisco — and refused to leave for 28 days.

Being Heumann streams globally on Apple TV from Friday, November 13, 2026. It is directed by Academy Award winner Siân Heder, the filmmaker behind CODA, and it stars British actress Ruth Madeley as Judy Heumann, the activist known as the “Mother of the Disability Rights Movement”. Mark Ruffalo co-stars as the cabinet secretary she is up against.

Being Heumann Release Date: When and Where to Watch

Being Heumann premieres globally on Apple TV on Friday, November 13, 2026. It is an Apple Original Film, which means it streams exclusively on Apple TV worldwide — viewers in the US, UK, Canada and Australia all get it on the same day, with a standard Apple TV subscription.

The film opened in select theatres on Friday, November 6, 2026, exactly one week before streaming, after its world premiere as the opening film of the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2026. It was also presented as a Gala at the BFI London Film Festival. The film is rated R in the US for language, some sexual material and drug use.

What Is Being Heumann About? The 1977 Sit-In

Being Heumann is set in 1977, when Judy Heumann — a young disabled woman who uses a wheelchair — decides she has had enough of being ignored. With a scrappy coalition of outsiders, she leads more than a hundred protesters into a federal building in San Francisco and occupies it, demanding the government enforce protections it had signed into law but never implemented.

The occupation lasted 28 days, making it the longest occupation of a federal building in American history, according to Apple’s synopsis. The protesters were asking for one thing: the implementation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, one of the first pieces of US federal civil-rights legislation protecting disabled people. The law existed on paper; the government had simply never put it into force. The official trailer, released on October 12, 2026 and set to the Monkees’ “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone”, captures that defiance — Madeley, addressing a rally, says: “The federal government cannot steal our civil rights!”

Being Heumann Cast: Ruth Madeley Leads the Line-Up

Ruth Madeley stars as Judy Heumann, and the casting is the film’s first statement of intent. Madeley is herself a wheelchair user, and she plays Heumann as a young woman in her late twenties — sharp, funny, impatient and unwilling to be patronised. The trailer shows her as a no-nonsense force, guarded and unwilling to be charmed by the officials who keep telling her to wait.

Opposite her is Mark Ruffalo as Joseph A. Califano Jr., the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare — the cabinet secretary whose department is refusing to implement Section 504. The supporting cast is built around the coalition: Dylan O’Brien as Evan White, Madeline Delp as Kitty Cone, Roberta Colindrez as Joni Breves, Rob Delaney as Congressman Miller, plus Ray Fisher and Daniel Durant. Apple has described the film as featuring the largest assortment of disabled actors ever assembled — a casting choice that is part of the point. This is a story about disabled people, told with disabled people at its centre.

The True Story: Judy Heumann and Section 504

Judy Heumann contracted polio as a child and used a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She spent her adult life fighting a system that treated disabled people as a problem to be managed — and in 1977, she helped organise the protest that changed American law.

The target was Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which banned discrimination against disabled people in any programme receiving federal money — schools, hospitals, transport, workplaces. It was, on paper, a landmark. In practice, the government had spent four years refusing to issue the regulations that would make it enforceable. In April 1977, Heumann and her allies occupied federal buildings in several cities; the San Francisco occupation — the one the film follows — held out for 28 days, sustained by supporters who smuggled in food and by a coalition that included the Black Panther Party. It ended only when the regulations were finally signed. Heumann went on to a long career in public service and is widely known as the “Mother of the Disability Rights Movement”. She co-wrote the memoir the film is based on with Kristen Joiner, and she was an executive producer on the film.

Who Made Being Heumann? Siân Heder and the CODA Connection

Being Heumann was written and directed by Siân Heder, who also produces. Heder won the Academy Award for CODA (2021), the first streaming film ever to win Best Picture, and this is her first feature since that film — and her second collaboration with Apple Original Films. She co-wrote the screenplay with Rebekah Taussig, author of Sitting Pretty, working from Heumann’s memoir.

The CODA connection tells you what kind of film this is. CODA was a family drama that happened to centre deaf characters, played by deaf actors, in a story that was funny and warm before it was anything else. Apple is positioning Being Heumann the same way: a story about outsiders who are funny, stubborn and irreverent, not a lecture.

Apple TV’s New Sign Language Feature Launches With the Film

There is a second launch on November 13, deliberately tied to this film. Apple announced on November 10, 2026 that its new Sign Language interpretation feature debuts on Apple TV on the same day as Being Heumann — with this film and F1 as the first titles to carry it.

The feature adds a picture-in-picture sign language interpreter — in American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) — to supported titles, so deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers can watch with interpretation built in rather than bolted on. For Being Heumann, the film’s own sign language interpretation was directed by Daniel Durant, who also appears in the cast. The choice of launch title is the point: a film about disability rights arrives with a feature that makes streaming itself more accessible.

Being Heumann vs Crip Camp: Drama vs Documentary

If the story sounds familiar, there is a good reason — and an important distinction. Crip Camp (2020), the Oscar-nominated documentary, also features Judy Heumann and tells the story of the disability-rights movement, including the 1977 protests. It is essential viewing, and it is a documentary: real footage, real interviews, real history.

Being Heumann is not that film. It is a dramatisation — actors playing real people, scenes written and staged, the story shaped into a feature film. The two films complement each other: watch Crip Camp for the history as it happened, and Being Heumann for the human story inside it. As for reviews, there is no verified Rotten Tomatoes score for Being Heumann yet — critical reception is still coming in, and any score quoted without a source should be treated with suspicion. Its festival reception is strong: it opened the Toronto International Film Festival and was given a Gala presentation at the BFI London Film Festival.

How to Watch Being Heumann in the US, UK, Canada and Australia

Being Heumann streams exclusively on Apple TV. The premiere is global, so viewers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia all get the film on the same day — Friday, November 13, 2026 — with a standard Apple TV subscription. The limited theatrical run that began on November 6 is still in select cinemas, and the new Sign Language interpretation feature is available on the film from launch day, in ASL and BSL.

Is Being Heumann Worth Watching?

On the ingredients alone, Being Heumann is one of the most interesting films of the week. A true story that changed American law, a director coming off a Best Picture win, a lead performance built around an actor who understands the character from the inside, and a cast that Apple describes as the largest assortment of disabled actors ever assembled. The 28-day occupation barely needs dramatising — and the trailer suggests Heder has let it speak for itself.

Press play on Friday, give it twenty minutes, and let Judy Heumann make her case. As the film’s own logline puts it: they wouldn’t take her phone calls, so she took their building.

Being Heumann FAQs

When does Being Heumann come out on Apple TV?

Being Heumann premieres on Apple TV on Friday, November 13, 2026, streaming globally. It opened in select theatres on November 6, 2026, after its world premiere as the Toronto International Film Festival’s opening film on September 10, 2026.

Who stars in Being Heumann?

Ruth Madeley stars as Judy Heumann, the disability-rights activist. Mark Ruffalo co-stars as Secretary Joseph A. Califano Jr., the cabinet secretary refusing to implement Section 504. The cast also includes Dylan O’Brien, Madeline Delp, Roberta Colindrez, Ray Fisher, Rob Delaney and Daniel Durant.

Is Being Heumann based on a true story?

Yes. Being Heumann is based on Judy Heumann’s memoir and dramatises the real 1977 San Francisco sit-in, when Heumann and more than a hundred protesters occupied a federal building for 28 days to force Section 504 into effect. Heumann, known as the “Mother of the Disability Rights Movement”, was an executive producer on the film.

What is Apple’s new Sign Language feature, and when does it launch?

Apple TV’s new Sign Language interpretation feature — picture-in-picture interpretation in ASL and BSL — launches on Friday, November 13, 2026, the same day as Being Heumann, which is one of the first titles to carry it. The film’s interpretation was directed by Daniel Durant.

Is Being Heumann the same as Crip Camp?

No. Crip Camp (2020) is an Oscar-nominated documentary about the disability-rights movement that also features Judy Heumann. Being Heumann is a dramatisation — a feature film with actors playing real people, based on Heumann’s memoir. They tell overlapping stories in different forms, and work best watched together.

So here is the honest summary: Being Heumann is a true-story drama about a 28-day occupation that changed American law, led by Ruth Madeley as Judy Heumann and directed by Siân Heder — and it arrives on Apple TV on Friday, November 13, 2026, alongside a new Sign Language feature that makes the platform itself more accessible. Set a reminder for Friday night. While you wait, check out our guide to 12 12 12, Apple TV’s other big premiere this week, and Heartland, Netflix’s Jessica Chastain thriller. Film fans should also not miss our How to Rob a Bank guide, the heist film opening in theatres the very same day.