BEING HEUMANN
Director: Siân Heder
Screenwriters: Siân Heder and Rebekah Taussig
Logline: Featuring a breakout performance by Ruth Madeley and Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo, this inspiring historical drama from Oscar-winning filmmaker Siân Heder (CODA) celebrates the paradigm-shifting activist Judy Heumann, “Mother of the Disability Rights Movement.”
Distributor: Apple Original Films
Panelists: Siân Heder, Ruth Madeley
First screening: Friday, September 11, TIFF Lightbox.
Key suote: “I had just finished CODA but it hadn’t come out yet. It was the year before me at Sundance, and a childhood friend of mine was the accessibility coordinator at Crip Camp, and she sent me a text, and she’s like, ‘I’m with the coolest woman I’ve ever met this woman, Judy Heumann. Do you know who she is? And I didn’t know who Judy was, but she was like, ‘She’s a total badass. Someone has to make a movie about her, and it should be you.’ So I watched Crip Camp, and I was just so blown away by Judy in the movie. She was so funny and so self-possessed, and just had this intense focus and energy. And then also the story of the 504 sit-in, I was like, this is a heist. Like this is this is like Dog Day Afternoon with disabled people. These people stormed a building and held it. It was the longest sit-in in U.S. history, and I couldn’t believe I didn’t know the story. I never was taught this in school. I didn’t know this piece of our history, and so I sent Judy a cold email.” – Siân Heder.
Click on the video above.
The Deadline Studio at TIFF is hosted at Bisha Hotel and presented by Volvo, Columbia, Patrón and Schwarzkopf.
