With her one-week deadline quickly approaching and a New York University film school professor breathing down her neck, Meagan Stockemer threw together a two-minute short for a summer film class.

When the star pulled out at the last minute, Stockemer took the lead role in her short. Little did she know that within a year, that film would grant her an admission into one of Michigan's largest film festivals.

The MSU telecommunication, information studies and media junior, who made the film last summer while taking classes at NYU, was accepted into the 2004 East Lansing Film Festival. Her short, "She's a Lady" premiered Sunday afternoon in the "Student Shorts" portion of the festival.

Stockemer is the only female MSU student among the student shorts filmmakers competing in the festival's Lake Michigan Film Competition.

"With Sofia Coppola's Oscar win, there are even more opportunities for women, and the gender gap is slowly getting better," Stockemer said.

Stockemer's film is a whirlwind of disco balls, Afros and platform shoes. The comedy is about a woman stuck in the 1970s, and with a snap of her fingers she can bring the dead era back to life around her.

"I wanted to make a fun film," she said. "I have done serious films, but with this one, I just wanted to not take my story so seriously."