MINNEAPOLIS — Don’t feel guilty if you’ve never heard of Judith Heumann, the ground-breaking advocate for people with disabilities.

Two Minnesota actors helping bring her story to the masses hadn’t heard of her, either.

“I took a lot of history classes and we didn’t talk about the disability movement at all, which is crazy because we had so many pages about other movements,“ said Charlie Rush-Reese, a recent Robbinsdale High School grad appearing in the film ”Being Heumann,” now streaming on Apple TV. “I just hope with our movie, they can add disability movements to history books and treat it like essential learning, because it is.”

The film, director-writer Siân Heder’s first project since the Oscar-winning “CODA,” focuses on Heumann (Ruth Madeley) as she leads a group of protesters who take over a San Francisco federal building in 1977, until bureaucrats agree to enforce anti-discrimination laws. The sit-in lasted nearly a month, the longest peaceful occupation of a federal building in U.S. history.

Heumann, who used a wheelchair after contracting polio as a toddler, died in 2023.

The movie doesn’t feature the kind of big dramatic moments that fueled classics like “Norma Rae,” “Selma” and “Milk.” Its idea of high tension is cabinet member Joseph Califano, Jr. (Mark Ruffalo) dodging Heumann’s phone calls.

Its greatest draw is watching the rebels unite despite facing their wide variety of disabilities, killing time with wheelchair races and make-out sessions. At one point, Rush-Reese’s character entertains the group with a rendition of “Joy to the World.”

Duluth’s Daniel Durant, reuniting with his “CODA” director, said the cast bonded by living in the same place in downtown Toronto and having a two-week rehearsal period.

“It was like this intense seminar where we were very open about our needs and accommodations,” he said. “That really grew our chemistry. We became like a family.”

One of Heder’s favorite scenes is when the characters played by Rush-Reese, who is blind, and Durant, who is deaf, help a fellow protestor portrayed by Rio Finnegan out of his wheelchair.

“The way the communication started to move around between the three actors was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen,” Heder told the Associated Press at the Toronto Film Festival. “Rio was having to narrate to Charlie with his voice while gesturing to Daniel with his body, while also acting as a translator between the two of them. That kind of interdependence was what kept this protest alive for 26 days. And I would never have been able to write that.”

That kind of experience was particularly enriching for Rush-Reese, who is making his feature-film debut.

“You can’t stay inside your box. You have to reach out to other people because you get surprised,” said Rush-Reese, who is currently enrolled at Columbia College in Chicago. “Me and Daniel would have never interacted otherwise. How do I talk to a deaf person when I’m blind? You learn that just because you have different disabilities and come from different backgrounds, you can find similar struggles and learn from each other.”

No one expects “Heumann” to break box-office records. But Apple Studios is clearly hoping its plucky story, heart-felt performances and a soundtrack packed with ’70s gems will lead to the film reaping at least half of the dozens of awards “CODA” managed to accumulate.

Durant’s advice to his younger Minnesota cast mate? Enjoy the ride.

“We didn’t expect ‘CODA’ to be as successful as it was and go as far as it did,“ said Durant, who married his ”Dancing With the Stars” partner, Britt Stewart, last year. “Who knows what will happen here? I’m just proud of our work and proud of our cast.”

During their joint Zoom interview, Durant also rallied for his co-star Rush-Reese to think about doing “Dancing,” on which he finished fifth in 2022.

“I’ll get them to recruit you,” he said.

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