Kicking off with a book launch and talk by the authors of The Golden Screen: The Movies That Made Asian America, the Boston Asian American Film Festival celebrated Asian American films in October. Traditional dances were performed by the Wah Lum Kung Fu & Tai Chi Academy and the New England Bhangra Club.

“I’m very excited to just hear about the perspectives of the Asian American community within the filming space.” said Chelsea Vuong, 2023 Miss Massachusetts, who acted as the master of ceremonies on the opening night.

“I think a few years ago when Crazy Rich Asians came out — that was the first majority Asian American film that was produced in Hollywood. This is a great highlight for us to be able to shine a light on that and also come together as a community to celebrate the advances that we’ve had in the film industry.”

The film festival ran from Oct. 12 through Oct. 22 at the Coolidge Corner Theater, Emerson Paramount Center, through virtual screenings and elsewhere. Screenings included the documentary “Nurse Unseen,” “Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story,” and “Accidental Getaway Driver.” In addition, the event included screenings of short stories and a preview of the drama television show, “Expats” with Lulu Wang.

“We’re doing something very different this year.” announced Festival Director Susan Chinsen. She introduced Jeff Yang and Renee Tajima-Peña, the authors of the Golden Screen, to launch their book.

The Golden Screen looks at around 140 films that were milestones in the ways that Asians have been depicted on screen, said Yang.

“That includes Asian American independent films as well as Hollywood films with Asian American representation and Asian films that have arrived and impacted American audiences. And the subtitle is ‘The movies that made Asian America.’ These are the films that have shaped how we see ourselves and how we’re seen by other people.”

He wrote the book in nine months, because, he said, “We’re in a moment where it feels like we’re able to tell our own stories, where people want to see Asians on screen. It’s a good time for us to be looking back and kind of showing the foundation of how all that was possible.”

Yang said he hopes people who read the book appreciate the decades of Asian American history that are part of what makes up the bigger story of Asian America, “that we’re a story that has grown with the telling.”

“I’m hoping that it’s nostalgic, that people will remember movies that they loved while reading the book and go back and watch them and that they’ll see things that they hadn’t seen that they have to see now.”

Contributor and Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Renee Tajima-Peña, said the book is not a critical analysis of Asian American film, but about how the films shape people’s perceptions and shape people’s lives.

“Because stories matter. I mean, stories tell you who’s in, who’s out, who belongs, who doesn’t belong. When you look at Asian Americans who have been so marginalized in this country for so long and our story has been erased, it has been made invisible to tell our story through film.”

“There are people who contributed to the book who talk about certain films they’ve seen that either made them cringe, really stereotype racist films, or films that just opened their eyes or just affirmed who they are and just changed their lives. So that kind of emotional engagement with films is all over that book. And that’s why it’s much different than other film books that I’ve seen.”