1 Litre of Tears

Fifteen-year-old Aya Kito stumbles unexpectedly, her gait growing unsteady in the hallways of her ordinary life. The daughter of a tofu shop family, she watches her world shrink to the confines of a hospital room after a diagnosis of spinomuscular atrophy seals her fate. The lens stays close, tracing the slow betrayal of her body while her mind and spirit fiercely hold their ground. This is not a chronicle of illness, but a map of a life — stubborn, tender, and fiercely illuminated by small joys that become as precious as measured breath.