My America (Or Honk If You Love Buddha)

Running time: N/A

To tell you the truth, I never would have been born if it wasn't for a mob of Asian haters.'' With these words and with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop, a smiling Renee Tajima-Pena introduces My America (... or Honk if You Love Buddha). My America is part road movie, part memoir: filmmaker and narrator Tajima-Pena takes to the highway to explore how individuals of Asian descent establish identities in the U.S. Tajima-Pena meets the beatnik son of the ''first mayor'' of San Francisco's Chinatown, an entrepreneur she likens to ''Horatio Alger on amphetamines,'' Chinese-American debutantes, a Korean rap group known as the Seoul Brothers, and the Vietnamese-born prophet of profit. Compelling and funny, My America nullifies stereotypes and enlightens as it entertains. --Meredith Sherter