Liu Shumin – Director – Jia (The Family)
Fred talks to first feature filmmaker Liu Shumin, here in Venice, with his 4 hours and 40 minutes film JIA, chosen as pre-opening event for the International Critics Week.
Plot: Jia is a coup de foudre that lasts 4 hours and 40 minutes, and it’s the debut of a Chinese filmmaker of Australian citizenship, Liu Shumin. With autobiographical but fictionalized tones, Liu uses non professional but extremely expressive actors to recount a few days in the life of an old couple who live in a city of inland China. He follows movements and every-day rituals, relationship subtleties with their three children, their common worries and the threats of old age, through a long voyage that both undertake to visit their children. With them, we will discover a country in profound transformation, balanced between tradition and modernity.