Here's the trailer for the James Racin documentary film Beautiful Darling. It's about the short and tragic life of trans actress Candy Darling. She went from growing up in the Long Island suburbs dreaming of becoming a star to becoming a beautiful blonde independent film actress and the muse of Andy Warhol on the verge of making that dream happen.
She tragically died of lymphoma in 1974 at the age of 29. The documentary uses a mix of current and past interviews, excerpts from Candy's diaries and letters and vintage videos
I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for it at my nearest multiplex that plays indie films.
Was hoping that Dana International would at least end up in the Grand Final for the 2011 Eurovision song competition in Dusseldorf, but when the smoke cleared and the votes were tallied in the second semi final she failed to make it.
She was repping Israel once again and bidding to become the first person ever to win the event twice, but looks like no one was feeling her song entitled 'Ding Dong'.
Israeli transwoman Dana International's quest to become the first two time winner of the Eurovision Song Contest takes center stage in a few hours when she sings 'Ding Dong' during the second semi final round in Düsseldorf, Germany..
Nineteen contestants already performed in the first semi final round on May 10, with ten of them already through to the May 14 Grand Final. Dana will have to get voted into the top ten of this second semi final in order to have a shot at making Eurovision history.
She won this event in 1999, so I'm interested in seeing what Jean Paul Gauthier gown she's going to wear for this year.
Dana International will be competing for Israel at the Eurovision song contest in Dusseldorf May 10-14. She's vying to become the first two time winner of it and here's a video of the song she'll be singing called 'Ding Dong'.
Interesting choice of a song title. Hope she makes history again.
I remember when a young Korean transwoman named Harisu burst onto the scene in 2001 by doing a commercial for a local cosmetic brand called Dodo.
She not only turned heads because of her striking beauty, over the decade she would become a sought after model and K-pop star, trans rights advocate, eventually get married in 2007, and open a trans themed nightclub. She would also become a role model for young transwomen in Korea.
Ten years after that groundbreaking debut, the SBS network is broadcasting a documentary entitled 'Harisu: Ten Years Of Her Dream'. It will focus on what has been transpiring in Harisu's life since she became an iconic part of her homeland.
I'll just have to wait until somebody uploads it to YouTube to see it.
The multinational Eurovision song contest is the world's most watched non sporting television event, averaging over 120 million viewers annually. It launched the careers of ABBA (1974), Celine Dion (who competed for Switzerland in 1988), Katrina and the Waves (1997), several eastern European music stars and a transsexual singer from Israel named Sharon Cohen.
She's better known by her stage name of Dana International. When she won the Israeli K'dam Eurovision selection contest after finishing second in 1995, drama was stirred up by Israel's Orthodox Jewish community and Israeli conservatives who had a problem with a transperson representing the nation at Eurovision 1998. They attempted to strip her of the title but failed.
She got the last laugh on her transphobic Israeli critics when her song 'Diva' won, subsequently sold over 400,000 copies and hit the Top Ten on the music charts of five European countries. .
She also slammed her critics back home with her 'Message of Reconciliation' in the wake of her 1998 Eurovision win. "My victory proves God is on my side. I want to send my critics a message of forgiveness and say to them: try to accept me and the kind of life I lead. I am what I am and this does not mean I don't believe in God, and I am part of the Jewish Nation."
Now Dana International is headed back to the Eurovision event not as a former champion or guest, but as a repeat contestant. She won Israel's K'dam 2011 selection contest and is headed to Düsseldorf with one called 'Ding Dong'.
Seriously, that's the name of the song.
We'll also have to see not only what Jean Paul Gauthier gown she pulls out for this Eurovision event this May, can she make Eurovision history by being the first person ever to win it twice?.
Spanish transwoman and actress Carla Antonelli has long been a trailblazing activist and champion for our people in her homeland.
She pushed for the changes in Spanish law that allowed transpeople to change their identity documents, even going as far as undergoing a hunger strike to get it done.
She was also the first person in Spain to ask for a change of name and sex on her identity documents.
Carla has been retired from TBLG and national politics since 2007, but is about to take another step back into the political arena.
Tomas Gomez, the Socialist Party leader in Madrid has announced that Antonelli will stand as a party candidate for the upcoming May 22 Madrid regional parliamentary elections.
"As a woman and as a politician I am interested by all subjects, unemployment, health and all the needs and concerns of the Madrileños.".
If she wins she would become the first transperson elected to a regional parliamentary seat in Spain.
