If you missed numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in this series (Andrew Dosunmu's Ma'George, Shola Lynch's Free Angela, Byron Hurt's Soul Food Junkies, Dyana Gaye's Des Etoiles, and Rodney Evans' The Happy Sad, and RZA's The Man With The iron Fists) click HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Here's number 7…

Julius Onah's The Girl Is In Trouble. 

Columbus Short stars in this New York City-set crime caper, executive produced by Spike Lee.

We've been ontop of the film since it was announced way back in 2010, and I actually thought it would debut at one of the major festivals last year, but it didn't; and then expected it to debut at Sundance this year, but it didn't do that either.

I've reached out to Julius a number of times in the past, and he certainly (understandably) doesn't give anything away; my last exchange with him was last fall, when I asked whether the film would be ready for Toronto, and he said that it wouldn't, as he'd been traveling abroad and there were still some items to be worked out on the film (although he didn't say what specifically).

Julius has been busy for the last several months as he was one of the few selected for the latest class of the Focus Features Africa First Program.

As required by the program, Julius will be producing a short film, titled Big Man, which is set in contemporary Lagos, Nigeria, where he was born. We actually might see that short film before we see his feature, but I hope we do finally see the feature some time this year, because it feels like it's been a long while since we were first introduced to it 2 years ago.

The Girls Is In Trouble stars Columbus Short as a bartender who unravels a mystery that connects a desperate young woman (played by Alicja Bachleda) to a missing drug dealer, and the scion of New York's most powerful stockbroker.

The 2009 Tribeca All-Access project was described by the initiative as follows:

The Girl is in Trouble fuses the kinetic energy of the French New Wave with a modern sensibility to create a thoughtful portrait of the underbelly of New York City's Lower East Side.

Onah, an NYU Tisch School grad, called it "a passionate and personal valentine to the ever-evolving neighborhood he calls home."

Wilmer Valderrama and Jesse Spencer co-star in the project.

Onah's short film The Boundary, which stars Alexander Siddig (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) was designated by Amnesty International as one of its "Movies That Matter;" it screened world wide, and eventually aired on HBO.

Here's hoping The Girl Is In Trouble presents itself somewhere this year.