The morning after St. Patrick's Day most of Toronto was suffering hangovers and exhaustion from celebrating the Irish holiday. At 10:30 a.m. though a whole lot of the press filled up the Carlton Theatre waiting to hear about the next big bash to hit the city: the 9th Annual ReelWorld Film Festival (taking place this week).

Everyone munched on muffins while sipping coffee or tea (thanks to Mmmarvellous Mmmuffins and Starbucks) awaiting news on the pending festival that encourages diversity in film. "Young and the Restless" star Tonya Lee Williams, founder of the Toronto-based festival, was excited to share the podium with co-workers and peers to announce this years films, panels and parties, starting with the opening show -- Gospel Hill.

"We have an amazing film called Gospel Hill...," Williams announced. "This is his [Giancarlo Esposito's] directorial debut and I'm excited for you to see this amazing film. It's a gripping, revealing and dramatic tale touching on issues of race and the power of the human spirit to overcome pain and hatred of division and that's really what ReelWorld is about."

This year's film schedule is as diverse as ever with the Indian Aloo Chat (which will be closing the festival) and the Mexican comedy Meet the Head of Juan Perez.

What really has folks anticipating this edgy yearly fest is its close ties to music, particularly hip-hop. Many Canadian hip-hop videos are included in the "Music Video Program" and this year's film line-up includes Wu: The Story of the Wu Tang Clan documentary and Kung Fu Hip-Hop. But you can really tell hip-hop is hitting hard at this year's event with the Fugees' Pras Mitchell coming down for a "ReelSpeak" on his documentary Skid Row (about homelessness in America).

ReelWorld has always embraced Canada's own hip-hop icon, director Lil' X, who came steppin' out to show his support with his mom, and he's happy with the relationship hip-hop has forged with ReelWorld.

"Hip-hop is really the voice of a culture and this is the ReelWorld Film Festival," Lil' X told Urbanology exclusively. "That's what this is about -- the multiculturalism of it. So this sub-culture that now includes so many people, it's now completely diverse..., it's an important force in this world... Hip-hop...is the language everyone understands. A guy like K'naan can deliver this message about Somalia, which we heard about but didn't quite know, now here's a guy who speaks the language we understand to a beat we understand."

The morning media event proved the 9th Annual ReelWorld Film Festival is a party everyone can all get down with.

Written By: Carol Santos