Mon: Welcome to a bonus Stereo Geeks episode from Toronto International Film Festival 2026. I’m Mon and today, I’m reviewing Being Heumann, which had its world premiere at TIFF.
Ron: Before we start our episode, we would like to acknowledge that the land we are recording on is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. It is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit.
Mon: While we are making this land acknowledgement, we understand that this is not enough and that positive action is required by the people of Canada to make substantive change for the Indigenous nations and communities whose lands we now reside on.
What is the film about?
Mon: Being Heumann follows the exploits of the “Mother of the Disability Rights Movement”, Judy Heumann, played by Ruth Madeley.
Set in 1977, Heumann leads a group of people with disabilities to pressure Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph Califano (Mark Ruffalo), to institute a legislation that will finally remove discriminatory practices towards people with disabilities. He won’t budge, so Heumann takes drastic measures.
She and her campaign companions take over a government building and refuse to leave till Califano signs. But, with food, resources, and potentially their health, waning, will bureaucracy win out?
What did the film do well?
Mon: I am so glad that Being Heumann stars so many actors with disabilities. We’re so used to abled actors getting these roles, but writer-director Siân Heder has worked with actors with disabilities before, and she continues with this film. A story like this, based on a real activist figure, it would have been an insult to cast abled actors in these roles. And yet, I breathed a sigh of relief when I found out just how much of the cast were from within the community.
Being Heumann shines when it focuses on the details of the sit-in and the personalities of the protesters. We watch them as they re-arrange furniture to make room to sleep and how they make each other comfortable. We see new friendships form as they lean on each other to move around the building; use the inaccessible space; and move from their wheelchair to their makeshift beds.
I loved seeing the community formed among the group. Heder also shows us how normal and fun, and flawed the characters in the film are. Because, you know, they’re human beings. It’s ridiculous how often films just don’t have characterizations for characters with disabilities. This film makes a very obvious comment about that by showing us that there are communities within the disability community and there is a diversity of people and personalities who create these communities.
They joke, they tease, they have their vices. They also have feelings, romantic and otherwise. They get to be a little naughty from time to time, even given the uncomfortable sit-in they’re in. Far too often, characters with disabilities are written as aromantic. But they run a gamut, just like everyone else. And we see that in Being Heumann.
We also see these characters have bust-ups. The sit-in, and the reason for it, is horrible. This group of activists puts their safety, and their health, at stake to make meaningful change. That’s courage. And it’s also understandable that such a situation causes friction among them.
The film gives us those layers. It allows us to agree and disagree with the characters, just like they’re doing in the story.
We feel connected to the characters because the performances are all so natural. I think Being Heumann might be the first film for some of these actors. Not that you can tell, because they’re all so compelling to watch. Maybe they’re just playing themselves, but who cares. You can connect with their personalities and feel their joy and anguish. That’s all that matters.
I couldn’t believe how funny Being Heumann was. I’ll admit, I was a little too furious at some of the injustice to laugh at all the moments, but the film is quite amusing. And you need that humour to undercut the tensions at play. I can only imagine that the real people at the heart of this movement also turned to humour to get through the nearly month-long sit-in.
What could have been improved?
Mon: I wish the film hadn’t been called Being Heumann. Despite the title, the film isn’t about Judy Heumann. She’s the central figure leading the charge, but Heder’s focus is on the entire group and the sit-in. We don’t get to learn about Heumann at all.
Barring one scene, we don’t see Heumann’s personal life. The majority of the film is her at protests, at the campaign office, and at the sit-in. Which is fine. But we’re going in thinking we’re going to get a biopic. And Being Heumann isn’t that. We don’t know what makes Heumann tick—why she makes rash and brash decisions. The core conflicts aren’t obvious because we don’t know much about who she specifically is from the viewpoint of the rest of the protesters.
This is an issue throughout the film. There’s another key character arc that Being Heumann doesn’t develop. A character has a, seemingly, off-screen change of heart. But considering what an essential emotional beat this is, it’s a complete shame that the arc wasn’t organically built.
Being Heumann’s lack of emotional development underlines its greatest flaw. We see the facts play out, but the importance of the changes to these specific people who we’ve grown to know, just isn’t there.
I almost feel like Heder was too aware of the significance of this story to let go of that reverential veneer, which makes the final product less inspiring and more a foundation to learn the true story.
Final thoughts
Mon: Being Heumann is a humorous and tense retelling of Judy Heumann’s sit-in to change legislation. While the performances are authentic and the story is powerful, the storytelling isn’t focused. The end product is clunky and the emotional arcs are underdeveloped.
Mon: That’s it for this bonus review episode of Being Heumann. Tune in next time for another TIFF 2026 review.
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Mon: See you next time.