Angelika

A beautiful young transwoman made the impossible possible last night by bringing together two of my faves into one magical TV hour: Oprah and America's Next Top Model.

But how? you ask.

The answer is: Angelika.

Angelika was a featured guest on the GLAAD Media Award-nominated episode of Oprah entitled "Born in the Wrong Body." In the hour, she candidly talks about her difficult childhood and confidently tells Oprah about how her life has changed for the better since her transition.

Last night's episode of Top Model involved a fashion shoot designed to highlight the problems facing homeless youth. The model hopefuls had to pose among young girls who have faced homelessness. And who should I spy, but the gorgeous Angelika, looking like a model herself!

Check her out in the picture above: she's the one on the far right, looking so totally fierce and definitely out-posing the girl we're supposed to look at.

Cycle 11 should be casting soon, Angie. How 'bout giving Top Model a try?

The Slamdance LGBT Slate

As Hollywood and the rest of the film world prepare to descend on Park City and the Queer Lounge, Sundance won't be the only game in town. Competing Slamdance also features a slate of films that are LGBT-inclusive or made by out filmmakers, such as Goodbye Baby (right).

LGBT people will be the subject of several Slamdance docs, including Pageant, which follows five men as they prepare to compete as female impersonators in the 34th Miss Gay America competition. The fest will also screen many LGBT-inclusive shorts, including the Hurricane Katrina-survivor profile Holdout, and the animated film Softly, which uses plastic dolls in place of actors.

We've put together a comprehensive list of LGBT Slamdance films here.

She's A Boy I Knew Makes U.S. Premiere

The Palm Springs International Film Festival rang in the new year with a splash and a large dash of star power. The festival now proudly bills itself as the largest U.S. film festival second only to Sundance. The biggest difference, however, is the audience. While Sundance is heavily attended by filmmakers, would-be filmmakers, distributors and international press, the audiences in P.S. are made up of locals, true film lovers and those looking to check out offerings that rarely screen in the U.S. or make it to the multi-plex.

On Saturday, audiences were in for a treat with the Canadian documentary She's a Boy I Knew. From director Gwen Haworth (far right), the film is a first-person account of Haworth's transition from straight male to gay female. Blessed with two generations worth of archival footage, Haworth has made a 70-minute trans-primer that is part genealogical record, part family drama and part love story — with comedic observations and a handful of animated sequences to lighten the mood.

With revealing and emotional interviews with her two sisters, parents and ex-wife Malgosia (above left), Haworth weaves a tale of a family who mourned the loss of Steven and eventually came to embrace Gwen. The film doesn't shy away from details (or video) of Haworth's sexual reassignment surgery and the high price — financial, physical and emotional — the director has paid.

The doc won the Audience Award for Most Popular Canadian Film at the Vancouver International Film Festival, as well as the fest's Women in Film and Television Artistic Merit Award. "That was extremely gratifying," says Haworth about being recognized by a jury of her peers, female filmmakers.

Haworth was on hand in P.S. for the U.S. premiere of her film, missing the last-minute wedding of her lesbian sister in the process. Hopefully the trip was worth it and the exposure of She's a Boy I Knew at the festival will lead to a television deal because this is one film that deserves a much larger audience.