Freedom of Speech: Where are the limits? Who get’s to say what ? The N-word, Race, Bigotry, Power, Freedom, Denial, Pain...Healing The day we arrived in LA to begin shooting this documentary, TV's Seinfeld star Michael Richards lost his cool to hecklers and retaliated with the 'N' word. In today's world of race-relations, immigration and entertainment, the ultimate question is: where is the line, and who can cross it? In the midst of heated debates over racial and ethnic identity, Americans consider the choice - to give up ethnic designations, or celebrate co-existing diversity. Caught in the cross--fire are millions of bi-racial and multiracial Americans. Competing against the maintstream on all counts, humorists and comedians provide meaningful insight into what really divides us. From the research of Dr. Darby LiPo Price, and multiracial comedian/Producer/Director Teja Arboleda, comes this fascinating discovery of comedy, from the perspective of multiracial/bi-racial comedians.

This full length documentary analyzes how mixed race comedians mediate multiracial identities and humor. Crossing lines of racial, ethnic, and cultural acceptability by their very existence, multiracial comedians reveal that meanings of race vary across ethnic combination, gender, place, and time.

The film features the experiences, perspectives, and performances of American comedians of more than one racial ancestry--Sunda Croonquist (Swedish/African), Kate Rigg (Indonesian/Australian/Canadian/Nuyorasian), James Connolly (Mexican/ Irish), Mark Yaffee (Navajo/Mexican/Scots-Irish), among others.

Internationally acclaimed performer Rain Pryor, (daughter of Richard Pryor) plays an important role in this film, offering personal perspectives on these unique challenges. Dr. Randall Kennedy, Harvard Law School professor, and author of Nigger, a prominet NYC comedy club owner, a psychotherapist specializing in multiraciality, NBC Universal's Director of Diversity, and others contribute with their own perspectives of where the line is, or whether it exists.

The film is based on Dr. Darby Li Po Price's dissertation Mixed Laughter: Mediating Multiracial Identities in American Ethnic Comedy.

The timeliness of multiracial comedians' roles as crossracial mediators is underscored as they provide insight into controversies over how comedians express race (i.e., Michael Richards' use of the N-word, Rosie O' Donnell's slurs), and other debated meanings of race in an increasingly diverse society. Exploring these questions exposes the very nature of where pain and laughter come from in a racially divided world.

Special Thanks Full List:

The National Association for Multicultural Education
Joyce Harris
Kathryn Larsen, RIPBS
Scott Dwyer, KQED
Vickie Killion, SOPTV
The New England Institute of Art
Fran Berger
Deborah Washington
Barbara Arboleda
Joan Quinn Eastman
NAACP-Detroit: President, Reverand Dr. Wendell Anthony
NAACP-Detroit: Community Relations Manager, Toni Bell
Cindy Andallo
American Indian Graduate Program, UC Berkeley
Comedy writer: John Shanahan
Jamie Flam, The Westside Eclectic, Santa Monica
Yolanda Hunter
Eric Liley
Becky Donahue
Rosalyn Tonai, National Japanese American Historical Society, SF, CA
State University, Long Beach, CA
Paul Chin, La Pena Cultural Center, Berkeley
Samantha Chanse, Locus Arts, San Francisco
Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC)
Interracial, Intercultural Pride (I PRIDE)
SWIRL
Bonnie Waltch
Jennifer Kaplan
Maria Agui Carter
Fred Simon
Susi Walsh
Paul McMurtry
Ukumbwa Sauti
Dedham Community Theatre and staff
NBC-KNTV 11 San Jose/San Francisco
Lorena Meza, LM Public Relations, LA
Damona Resnick & Tracette
Hillman, NBC Diversity Initiative
Marlis Arboleda
Bärbel Makrutzki
Harry Miller, Art Alliant Gallery, NYC
Marianne Ryan
Mary Cardaras
The Camera Company, Norwood, MA
Marcus Peckham
Desiree Cooper
Weekend America – American Public Media/NPR
Marc Sanchez
Lillian Castillo-Speed, Ethnic Studies Library, UC Berkeley
Farzana Nayani
Tarah Fleming
Dorothy Jones-Davis
Donahue Realestate
Mariam Rodriguez & Pandy Arrieta
KNTV NBC11, SF/San José, CA
Mike Frye, Samuel Merritt College
Presenting Station Program Director: Kathryn Larsen, Rhode Island PBS
Public Television Distribution Support: Gayle Loeber, NETA