The Irish Film Institute's short film competition was essentially the farm system for the Irish film industry.
It wasn't a massive blockbuster event, and the general public barely paid it any mind.
But for insiders—producers, agents, and the press—it was a must-watch.
The awards ceremony was packed with industry professionals and entertainment journalists.
Winners here usually walked away with solid job offers.
When Eva arrived, the venue was already buzzing. The audience looked seasoned; these were people who had been in the business for years.
Following the ushers, Eva found her seat among the other nominees.
Most of them were young men.
There were only a few women, Eva included.
It made sense. Girls with the right looks usually went into acting. Why slog through the mud of directing when you could be in front of the camera?
By the time a female director finally "made it," she was usually middle-aged.
Most girls didn't want that life.
Eva settled in as the ceremony began.
The host started announcing the awards, one by one.
Sitting there, Eva was an outlier.
Finally, they reached the main event: Best Short Film.
While this wasn't the Oscars, the winner of this award was still a big deal. They were effectively crowned the "Rookie of the Year."
The camera panned across the faces of the eight finalists.
There was a scruffy middle-aged man, a hopeful young boy, a seasoned industry veteran...
And then, the audience did a double-take.
A bright, impossibly young girl.
She didn't even look twenty. It seemed almost illegal for someone that young to be in this category.
And she was stunning—she looked more like a movie star than a director.
The audience murmured. Which film did she direct?
All eight finalists were excellent. It was hard to believe such a young girl could have the chops to compete at this level.
But there was no time to speculate.
The host opened the envelope.
"And the winner of the Irish Short Film Competition for Best Short Film is..."
"'Kingdom of Angels', Eva Codi."
Oh. The audience smiled knowingly.
That film.
It deserved it. No question.
If the other seven films were high-quality gems, Kingdom of Angels was the diamond.
That breathtaking long take was something even the great European masters would nod at in approval.
It was a worthy winner.
But... who was the director?
Most people assumed the director of Kingdom of Angels was an experienced pro testing the waters with a short film, or maybe a veteran using a pseudonym to crush some rookies.
Because that was the only logical explanation.
You don't shoot a sequence like that without years of study and on-set experience.
So, the audience was expecting an older, seasoned figure to stand up.
But when Eva stood up and walked toward the stage...
Everyone froze.
What?
Seriously?
Her?
She's... she's a baby!
This girl, who didn't look a day over eighteen, shot that?
It was impossible to process.
This wasn't just talent. This was a freak of nature. This was genius.
Eva Codi, a complete unknown, had conquered the industry with a five-minute long take.
When she stepped onto the podium, every camera focused on her.
Her face appeared on the big screen, crisp and clear.
Confident. Beautiful. Those were the first impressions.
Shockingly young. That was the second.
But no matter what anyone thought of her age, no one could question the film. The work spoke for itself.
Eva took the trophy. She leaned into the microphone, her expression calm—happy, but not overwhelmed.
"I want to thank the judges who voted for me," she said, her voice steady.
She looked out at the audience, her presence commanding despite her youth. "For me, this isn't the end. It's just the starting line. Thank you."
Exactly. Just the starting line.
Her dream—her true ambition—was to make feature films. That was the mountain she intended to climb.
Everything before that was just base camp.
This was a small competition in the grand scheme of things. It wasn't ultimate glory.
But it was a good start.
She walked off the stage, the audience's eyes glued to her.
They still couldn't believe it.
Eva took the trophy home.
The media immediately jumped on the story.
Irish Film Weekly gave her a full-page spread with the headline: "The Film Industry's Rookie of the Year."
"An 18-year-old girl shoots a masterclass long take."
"Her future is limitless."
Back at school, Eva became an overnight celebrity.
Students from other departments would come just to catch a glimpse of her.
Everyone knew: the person who shot that footage was going places.
Eva wasn't used to the attention, but she had to deal with it.
Even her own professors pulled her aside privately. "Eva... honestly, how did you pull off that shot?"
They were baffled. Most of them couldn't have executed that shot themselves.
Especially coming from Eva—the student who skipped class and had terrible grades. To suddenly jump from "failing" to "award-winning genius" was suspicious.
But Eva didn't explain. She let them think what they wanted. Maybe she just had an epiphany?
God, that's a terrifying epiphany.
Going from Level 1 to Level 10 is believable. Going from Level 1 to Level 80 overnight? That's witchcraft.
But the fame didn't matter to Eva. What mattered was the work.
And the work came.
Job offers started rolling in. Mostly for commercials and music videos.
That was expected. A short film award didn't prove she could handle a two-hour feature or a TV series.
But Eva was satisfied.
Commercials and music videos were the perfect training ground. They built experience and connections—the keys to unlocking the industry.
Generally, film directors came from four backgrounds:
1. The Privileged: Money, connections, and talent from birth. They could make a movie whenever they wanted.
2. The Pivot: Directors who started in commercials or music videos.
3. The TV crossover: Directors who moved from television to film.
4. The Stage crossover: Directors who moved from theater to film.
Eva obviously wasn't in category one. So she had to take the other paths.
Starting as a commercial or MV director was a solid strategy.
Even if some people looked down on it as the "bottom tier" of directing.
Most of the offers Eva received were for cheap brands or low-budget ads.
She turned those down. Those kinds of projects didn't care about artistic vision, and she wanted her first professional gig to be a strong calling card.
Meanwhile, talent agencies reached out, wanting to sign her.
Eva turned them all down too.
She didn't plan to stay in Ireland forever.
As a European, if she wanted to break into Hollywood, she needed to conquer Europe first. And to conquer Europe, she needed to go where the industry was biggest.
That meant London.
So she planned to move to the UK eventually. Signing a long-term contract with an Irish agency would only tie her down.
However, because her film had won, it was being broadcast on TV and covered in the news.
One day, an Irish national treasure—a legendary female singer—happened to turn on her TV and catch Kingdom of Angels.
She watched the whole thing, intrigued.
Then, she picked up the phone and called her manager.
"For my new music video... add another name to the shortlist of directors."
The singer was Sinéad O'Connor.
Meanwhile, on the TV screen, the host was still shouting excitedly:
"This sudden Rookie of the Year has left the judges speechless with a mere five-minute short!"
"No one can believe that such a shot came from the hands of an 18-year-old girl!"