EUGENE–Film maker Marlene Booth will show her award winning documentary film "Yidl in the Middle" at a lecture on Sunday, April 18, at the University of Oregon. The film explores her experiences growing up Jewish in the Midwest.

In the poignant documentary film, Booth explores the duality of growing up in Iowa as an all-American girl who is also an orthodox Jew.

The film will begin at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Room 138 of Gilbert Hall, 955 E. 13th Ave. Following the screening, Booth will discuss the film and answer questions from the audience. The UO Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies is sponsoring the free public event.

The documentary describes the tremendous societal pressure Jews felt to assimilate into Christian Iowa. In her film narration, Booth speaks of the need her family felt to fit in. They kept a strictly kosher home, she says, yet went out for cheeseburgers and fried chicken.

Booth says she hopes "Yidl in the Middle" will open a dialogue on differences.

"I came to realize we are all different in one way or another but we don’t know how to express the differences. I want this film to open up a conversation," she says.

Booth’s major films include "The Forward: From Immigrants to Americans," about the largest Yiddish newspaper in New York City; "When I Was 14: A Survivor Remembers"; and "They Had a Dream: Brown v. Board of Education." Many of her documentaries have been shown on national television.

Booth’s films have won the Cine Golden Eagle, an Emmy nomination, a Bronze Apple from the National Educational Film and Video Festival, and an Outstanding Independent Film award at the New England Film & Video Festival.

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