HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD - Hamptons Documentary Fest | BEST DOCUMENTARY - Miami Jewish Film Festival Audience Award | OFFICIAL SELECTION - New York Jewish Film Festival
Women rights • History • Home movies • Education & Educational Equity • Democracy • Jewish Studies • Human rights
Date of Completion: 2024 | Run Time: 85 minutes | Language: English, Hebrew, Slovak | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Director & Producer: Heather Dune Macadam | Producers: Heather Dune Macadam, Jane Schonberger, Beatriz M Calleja & Jay Heit | Co-Director: Beatriz M Calleja | Executive Producers: Susan Lacy & Diane Nabatoff
Edith Grosman was seventeen when Slovak officials ordered unmarried Jewish girls to register for work service. Filled with a sense of national pride, she joined hundreds of other innocent young women who were under the false impression their patriotic duty would benefit their families. Instead, they were deported to Auschwitz as expendable slave labor. The Slovak government paid the Nazis the equivalent of $3000.00 to deport each girl. Through first-person testimony and rare archival material, we learn the little-known facts of the women’s camp in 1942 and how a handful of the girls managed against all odds to survive over three long years of hell on earth.
Holocaust Research Institute | Simone Gigliotti Deputy Director
"A sweeping, intimate and often devastating account of young Slovakian women's experiences under Nazi occupation. Sure to be remembered and discussed.”
American Jewish University | Michael Berenbaum, Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies
"An important story sensitively told, an indispensable contribution to our understanding of the unique fate of Jewish women during the Holocaust."
NC Teacher
"Author Heather Dune Macadam was phenomenal!"- North Carolina Teacher. In April of this year, author Heather Dune Macadam shared her documentary film, The 999, with a group of 40 North Carolina Holocaust Educators at their annual gathering in Cullowhee. Each year, Holocaust educators from across the state convene for a retreat held at The North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) and Heather was a featured speaker/author at this gathering. With the passing of the Gizella Abramson Holocaust Education Act in 2021, North Carolina became a mandate state in which Holocaust Education is now required for grades 6-12 in English Language Arts and Social Studies classes. Rena's Promise is one of two texts selected to be used in 10th grade English Language Arts and curriculum resources were created around this text to support student learning. "This documentary will further supplement the curriculum resources we already have access to with Rena's Promise and students will deepen their understanding of what happened to these women. We cannot forget this history and we cannot forget their stories."
South Iredell High School | Kinsi King, MA, NBCT
“A book for adults and teens to explore the depths of survival and the love of family within the terror of Nazi oppression and the Holocaust. Praised by a former student as: “a life-changing experience for me to learn about the Holocaust and Judaism through our reading of Rena's Promise. That book was transformative for the development of my personal and academic journey.” To further delve into the realities and cruelties of Hitler’s Germany and beyond, watching the unfolding of the first women’s transport to Auschwitz through Heather Dune Macadam’s documentary, “999,” provides heart-wrenching, first-hand accounts of uncovering what happened to these women: sisters, daughters, friends. Macadam connects this pivotal time in history to our understanding of how prejudice and stereotypes lead to hatred and more - a necessary understanding of our shared humanity.”
AWARDS
Audience Award Best Documentary | Pittsburgh Jewish Film Festival & Miami Jewish Film Festival
Human Rights Award | Hamptons Doc Fest
Social Impact Award | Greenwich International Film Festival
FILM FESTIVALS
New York Jewish Film Festival
Hartford Jewish Film Festival
Chicago Jewish Film Festival
Toronto Jewish Film Festival
Berlin Brandenburg Jewish Film Festival
Rehoboth Beach Jewish Film Festival
For a full list of upcoming events, check out: https://www.999themovie.com/events