BOSTON – The Boston Asian American Film Festival is running for its 16th year, highlighting Asian-American filmmakers and actors, and students at Northeastern University got a chance to speak with the showrunner for a new show.

“I think people are recognizing how important these stories are,” Susan Chinsen told WBZ-TV. Chinsen is one of the original founders of the BAAFF, an event that bridges the gap between Asian-American filmmakers, the actors and the audience watching at home.

“Interior Chinatown” showrunner

At Northeastern, students in an Asian-American studies class had a special guest Friday – author and showrunner Charles Yu.

“The story starts to evolve and incorporate other people’s ideas and voices almost immediately,” Yu told the class.

Yu is the brains behind the upcoming series “Interior Chinatown” premiering on Hulu in November. His upbringing growing up in an immigrant family molded much of his star-studded Asian cast.

“I was either the only Asian kid or one of the only Asian kids. And so you sort of don’t know how you fit in, necessarily, there,” he said.

That message resonated with many of the college students in the room.

Telling full stories

“We didn’t really grow up with too much of, I guess, being able to see ourselves represented in media, so being able to ask questions and finally being part of the conversation so directly was very special,” student Macy Jiang said.

“That’s the best way to humanize someone is to tell their full story,” Yu explained. “Not as a stereotype, not as a hero, necessarily, but just as a flawed, full person.”

This broader conversation at Northeastern and in Hollywood is why the BAAFF gets bigger and better every year in Boston.

“Over 16 years, where Asian-American media has really come – it’s come so far forward, especially in representation with ‘Interior Chinatown’ and ‘All That We Love,’ Margaret Cho’s film,” Chinsen reflected. “We’re in a much different place.”

The Boston Asian American Film Festival runs through the weekend with a special screening of “Interior Chinatown” at Emerson Paramount Center on Saturday.