Power cuts, propaganda, indoctrination and group exercise sessions are just a few of the day to day occurrences for Hong Son Wei, a seamstress, living in North Korea. This film has no accompanying narration and needs none. Naturally all filming was subject to the strictest controls of the North Korean regime, any attempt to portray any negative elements would have been censored. Therefore, the picture that emerges of daily life under the 'benign' gaze of the beloved Leader Kim Yong II is the acceptable face of the country that it wishes to present to the outside world. It is precisely this that makes the film all the more fascinating.

Any glimpse into a country as notoriously secretive as this one is rare. But for your average western viewer, the song Son Wei and her daughter sing on the way to nursery - a little tune vilifying the Americans, the way the daughter is told she needs the love of the leader in order to grow just as plants need the sun, and the way nobody knows what the word internet means in her son's English class, are just some of the more absurd and alarming interludes. The culture of self criticism, that causes the brigade leader at the factory to blame herself for not producing her quota of coats, re-enforces the idea of a society that is totally alien and full of contradictions.

In Peking, home to 12 million and host city of the 2008 Olympic Games, there is lots to do. A million builders have arrived from all over the Chinese provinces in order to remodel the city as a 'Gateway to the new world'. Until now the various districts of the city were made up of labyrinthine alleyways and smaller, older buildings but as each new day passes, older buildings and landmarks are destroyed and the chaos known as modernisation is unleashed. As Mao so aptly phrased it, "We are not only good at destroying the old world, we are also good at building the new."

Film-maker Xiaolu Gou explores the various sides of the building revolution, bringing viewpoints together from those who oppose their enforced dispossession, the building site workers and those responsible for the planning of the project. Whilst carefully weaving their stories together she also creates a disturbingly beautiful picture of the changing cityscape. One that, whilst filled with the euphoric visions for the future of modern China, seems also characterised by a deeper, most profound melancholy.