Incinerator

Kozue, a ten-year-old girl in fourth grade, moves through school in a world of her own. Bullied by her classmates and increasingly withdrawn, she develops a secret fascination with the old incinerator behind the school, where she regularly throws away small objects that carry personal meaning.

Her quiet routine changes when she meets Jinta, a university student visiting the school with a shadow puppet troupe. Drawn to him, Kozue begins to follow his presence with an intensity she does not yet understand. When Jinta offers her a ride to search for a place connected to her father’s childhood memories, the journey becomes an unexpected encounter with a world beyond her ordinary surroundings.

As summer unfolds, Kozue’s fascination with Jinta deepens. His brief presence awakens unfamiliar feelings of attraction, longing and attachment, while the adults around her remain largely unaware of what is taking place inside her.

Through Kozue’s detached yet intensely observant perspective, Incinerator captures the strange, fragile moment when childhood begins to give way to something more complicated — a first encounter with desire, loss, and the impulse to let go.