Oscar-winning CODA filmmaker Sian Heder’s upcoming feature Being Heumann will open the Toronto Film Festival, it was announced Tuesday.
TIFF’s 51st edition is also giving world premieres at Roy Thomson Hall to Prima Facie from British director Susanna White and The Assassin(s) from Korean auteur Hur Jin-ho. After the Hollywood studios shunned Cannes with big ticket titles, Apple Studios is bringing Heder’s adaptation of disability rights activist Judy Heumann’s best-selling memoir of the same name, with Ruth Madeley in the titular role as Judy Heumann.
Being Heumann focuses on Heumann (Madeley) as she leads around a hundred disabled people in a 28-day sit-in at the San Francisco Federal Building in 1977. The protestors vow to stay put until the government enforces section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, requiring accessibility for all federal spaces.
“Being Heumann features an electric performance from Ruth Madeley in the story of Judy Heumann, a world-changing advocate for accessibility,” Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF, said in a statement about his first night movie pick. Mark Ruffalo also stars in Being Heumann. Heder and Rebekah Taussig co-wrote the script for the movie, which Heder produces through her overall deal with Apple Studios.
Heder’s previous collaboration with Apple includes directing the film 2021 CODA, which won Oscars for best picture, best supporting actor for Troy Kotsur and best adapted screenplay for Heder’s script. Heder also executive produced the series Little America.
With Being Heumann to open TIFF, Apple and the other major studios are expected to return to Toronto this year in force as they see the advantages of having their star-driven movies premiere at a major public festival with polite Canadian audiences embracing Hollywood stars on red carpets and film premiere stages and TIFF continuing as a launch-pad for mainstream Hollywood movies.
The Canadian festival on Tuesday also announced a world premiere for Prima Facie, which stars Cynthia Erivo in a film adaptation of Suzie Miller’s play and an Australia-U.K. co-production between Bunya Productions and Embankment Films. The legal drama, directed by White (Woman Walks Ahead, Our Kind of Traitor) follows Tessa on her journey from a brash, young lawyer who takes pride in successfully depending individuals accused of sexual assault.
Tessa’s view of the British legal system changes after she is sexually assaulted by a colleague and goes through the court process herself. Toronto is also giving a first look to Korean director Hur Jin-Ho’s latest film, The Assassin(s) mystery thriller set against the backdrop of the 1974 attempted assassination of Korean president Park Chung-hee.
Yoo Hae-jin, Park Hae-il and Lee Min-ho topline The Assassin(s), which is set for a commercial release later this year. The Korean auteur debuted earlier films in Toronto, including A Normal Family, Dangerous Liaisons and April Snow.
The Toronto Film Festival, set to run Sept. 10 to 20, will this year include an inaugural TIFF: The Market. More lineup announcements will be made in the coming weeks.
