Toronto built 1977 San Francisco: The filming locations of Being Heumann
Being Heumann
Apple Original Films released the trailer for Being Heumann on October 12, 2026 – just ahead of its Gala presentation at the BFI London Film Festival and following its world premiere as the opening night film at TIFF. The film was produced under the working title Radical and shot in Toronto between May and June 2025.
Being Heumann follows disability rights activist Judy Heumann, who leads more than a hundred young people in a radical act of defiance as they occupy the San Francisco Federal Building for 28 days in 1977 – demanding that the government sign regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the first federal civil rights law protecting disabled Americans. Mark Ruffalo plays Joseph Califano, the political official whose stance clashes with their demands.
Directed, written and produced by Academy Award winner Siân Heder (CODA), and co-written with Rebekah Taussig. Ruth Madeley plays Heumann. Dylan O’Brien, Jon Beavers, Rob Delaney and Ray Fisher also star.
The first publicly documented location activity came at the end of May 2025, when a movie shoot at Bay Street and Richmond brought a fleet of 1970s-era vehicles to the intersection – the period cars giving the downtown Toronto streetscape its first transformation into 1977 San Francisco. Bay Street’s institutional commercial architecture provided the corporate and governmental backdrop.
Filming was also spotted on Temperance Street in late May – the short downtown street running through Toronto’s Financial District.
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On June 1, filming continued at Commerce Court North at 25 King Street West – the Mies van der Rohe-designed tower and its historic courtyard complex, one of Toronto’s most architecturally distinguished addresses.
Film notices in the city confirmed filming at The Comrade on 758 Queen Street East on June 5. The bar and community venue on Queen Street East – one of Toronto’s most characterful commercial strips – provided the production with a 1970s-appropriate neighbourhood establishment.
On June 7, York Street and Wellington went back in time – classic cars lined the road as production filmed period scenes along the intersection. Wellington Street West and the nearby York Street and Heenan Place area also featured in the shoot, their combination of older civic and commercial buildings completing the 1970s San Francisco street environment that Toronto’s downtown was assembled to provide.
Being Heumann debuts in select theatres on November 6, 2026, and premieres globally on Apple TV on November 13.
SOURCE
Toronto Filming // Apple TV // IMDb // on-location reports Toronto
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