Film Selected for Film Festival

Paul Rapsey's revised film, "Desperately Seeking Samuel" (2024) has just been jury selected for inclusion in the Palma Film Festival (Mallorca, Spain). The film, with actors Paul Rapsey, Gillian Ormerod and Katie Yeoman, is not yet publicly available. It will be released locally this fall. However a short trailer to the film is now available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/9WUMF0jMnAM.

Paul performed the stage version live in Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia and elsewhere late in 2022, after the release of the original version of the film earlier the same year. The earlier version previously won recognition at two independent festivals.

The stage version and the current film version followed a revised script that Paul wrote during the summer of 2022. This script added an Epilogue that was intended for a female actor. However, because no one suitable was available at the time, Paul performed this role himself.

The film was released first because of the then restrictions on live performances due to Covid-19.

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Samuel Benefit a Success

The sold out performance of Desperately Seeking Samuel was a success. The production raised $800 for the Champlain Elementary School breakfast and lunch programme. The cheque will be presented to the school at the end of month at the school assembly by request of the principal, Jan Ross. Paul Rapsey performed both the role of Samuel in the main play and of Marianna in the Epilogue. The powerful Epilogue was not in the film version. Audience members who had already seen the film, repeatedly said how different the play was from the film version. It had more energy and less darkness. Paul says that is because an actor feeds off an audience. An actor cannot do that in a film. In his brief introduction, Paul said the play was not a linear one. He described it as like a slow paced road trip of discovery. It starts off in the early morning darkness. Sometimes the road is smooth and straight. Sometimes one is dodging potholes. There are curves and bends. Sometimes the scenery is stunning...

One's Company Now a Film

I am not a filmmaker. But Covid has forced me to become one, to a degree. I decided to turn this stage play into a one-hour film in the "talking head" genre. I have not decided what if anything I will do with this film other than make it available to my few fans on YouTube. I am not sure exactly how to categorize this film. At 61 minutes, it seems too long to classify as a "short", and too short to classify as a "feature". As was Fiddelity , the film is made with no budget and very basic equipment. I am, essentially a story teller in the old sense. It is the words and the way I use and express them that are intended to ignite the imagination of the audience, rather than reliance on pyro-technics and the like. I was particularly touched by this comment by one viewer: " I watched One’s Company last night and loved it. A graceful insight into alone-ness. Am I not being understood….or is it I who misunderstands? Small worries looming large. The growth...

Playwright Turned Author

BOOK LAUNCH There is murder in the air in a sleepy, unsuspecting village on the banks of a tidal river in Nova Scotia. “ Murder on the Pony Express Way ” by Paul Rapsey, a resident of Granville Ferry, will be released in paperback format at a book launch at Bainton’s Mad Hatter Bookstore in Annapolis Royal on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Stay on for Happy Hour at the Mad Hatter Wine Bar. The book is a whimsical murder mystery that takes place in the early 2020s. The historic village is located on the roadway travelled briefly by the mid-19 th century Pony Express riders carrying mail between Halifax and Victoria Beach in Nova Scotia. The characters may be flawed, but they are loveable. Although Paul has published other works, this is his first fictional novel. Josh Anderson at Amazon Books, which will be releasing the book for online purchases and e-readers in the late spring or early summer, wrote that the book is “ …a delightful read… W...

One Actor - Another Show

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