Plot

Aadid tells us his life in seven minutes. He's an Arabic-speaking young man working the night shift at a laundromat and dry cleaners somewhere in the United States. In the aftermath of 9/11, they wash U.S. flags for free. He says they get six or seven per day. He tells us about Napoleon's two wives: Marie Louise for an heir, Josephine for love. Aadid likes Adela, his co-worker. She's his Josephine. We watch Aadid and Adela hand wash the flags and put them in dryers. They fold them. They dance. They stand side by side outside the door of the laundromat looking at the dawn. Will this companionship become something more?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

In post 9/11 United States, Aadid and Adela, both from Middle Eastern ethnic backgrounds, work together on the night shift at a laundromat/dry cleaners. He is secretly in love with her, he, to himself, referring to her as his Josephine - as in the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte - for the role she played in Napoléon's life as opposed to the alternative role of his second wife, Marie Louise. In this context, he chooses Napoléon as a reference for a specific reason. Aadid and Adela's relationship from his perspective is shown against the backdrop of the small yet meaningful task they perform together each night as part of the laundromat's free service: cleaning, drying and folding American flags.—Huggo