Chinese film "The Family" touches hearts in Venice

Although it is not in the main competition, the 280-minute film Jia, or The Family, made a large impact on the opening day of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, which kicked off here on Thursday by touching the audience with the universal value of family.

Written and directed by Chinese-Australian Liu Shumin, Jia was the first Chinese film to be screened at this year's festival, joining the section of International Critics Week.

The film, which took Liu almost four years to complete, tells the story of a typical ordinary Chinese family from a small inland city. An old couple decided to go on a long journey to visit their three children, who lived far away and barely had a chance to visit their parents.

The film captured several fragments of their journey using poetic montage, along with the genuine performance by non-professional actors and actresses. At the end of the first screening, the film won big rounds of applause from the audience who sat still for over four-and-a-half hours.

Choosing a film in such length was challenging for both the production team and the organizers of the festival, the director said during a brief Q&A section after the screening.

But he insisted that such an amount of time was necessary to demonstrate the "details and flavors" of the story, and that the invitation from the festival encouraged him to keep the original cut.

Liu, 41, was born in a small town in China, and received his education from Tongji University in Shanghai and Beijing Film Academy. He moved to Australia in 2002, where he worked as a cinematographer.

Jia is the first film he has showcased at a major international film festival. Endit