Séamus

Ó Bheaircheart

James Bearhart
Writer/Director
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jamesbearhart@gmail.com

jamesbearhart@gmail.com

"To create, one must first question everything."
-Eileen Gray
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HONORS


Recipient of SFFilm Sloan Stories of Science in Cinema Development Fund 2023
Recipient of 2020-2022 AFI Sloan Fellowship
Recipient of 2020-2022 George Moore Fellowship
2022 AFI Sloan Screenwriting Prize Winner
2022 AFI Telluride Film Lab Fellow
2022 Coca-Cola Refreshing Films Semi-finalist

James, or Séamus in his native Irish, is an LA-based independent filmmaker and graduate of AFI (SCR 2022). 


A Sloan screenplay winner and fellow for his script 'Kokoro' about a dysfunctional Irish family, he also won a Sloan grant through the prestigious SFFilm Development Fund for his pitch 'Visible' on the life-changing discovery a scientist makes when she comes across a frog that can turn invisible. As a Sloan fellow, he has been invited to many events, including the National Academy of Sciences writers-retreat, where he was paired with a Quantum physicist (and consultant for Ant-Man) to develop a script in real-time.


His directorial debut, 'Woman's Best Friend', a silent comedy about a woman's consistent bad taste in men, won several awards. He has also written a musical, 'The Singing Revolution,' a love story told against the backdrop of the Soviet Union's occupation of Estonia, which debuted in 2022 to rave reviews and recently held a workshop performance in the West End, London.

He is currently completing his feature debut, 'Living in Sin', an anthology on the Seven Deadly Sins.


SCRIPTS

VISIBLE - DRAMA - FEATURE
Sloan Stories of Science in Cinema Development Fund 2023, Sundance Lab 2nd round finalist 2024
When a PhD candidate discovers a frog's unique ability to become transparent, she theorizes that this could revolutionize cardiovascular medicine. Practically invisible in a male-dominated environment, she must shake things up to get what she needs and bring this remarkable discovery to the world. View the pitch


FIVE POINTS - ONE-HOUR PERIOD DRAMA
Academy Nicholl top 10% finalist 2021, Humanitas semi-finalist 2022
In the 1840s, in Five Points, New York, the love affair between an Irish immigrant and a Black freeman is pressured as their communities are slowly pitted against each other.


KOKORO- FAMILY DRAMA - FEATURE
Sloan AFI prize winner 2022, Sloan Student Screenplay Finalist 2022
An AI engineer must return to his childhood home, so he can work together with his psychiatrist sister to diagnose their estranged doctor father, who has developed a mysterious illness. 


OTHER SCRIPTS AVAILABLE


SCRAWL - HORROR - FEATURE
A widower must learn to become a father to his son in the midst of trying to survive in the Bronx, having long overstayed his migrant visa. Survival takes on a new meaning when his deceased wife is made real by his son’s drawings. View the pitch

SUGAR  - DARK COMEDY - FEATURE
When a gay construction worker and his straight best friend blow all their money to live like the 1% for a weekend at Cannes, the two men decide to find sugar daddies to stay in the lifestyle they’ve come to love.


SMALL G - HALF-HOUR COMEDY
‘Small g’ is a half-hour comedy about a down-and-out potbellied loser called JESÚS, a lowly mail room employee, who is, in reality, the immortal but powerless former Greek god Zeus.d the script 

James, or Séamus in his native Irish, is an LA-based independent filmmaker and graduate of AFI (SCR 2022). 

A Sloan screenplay winner and fellow for his script 'Kokoro' about a dysfunctional Irish family, he also won a Sloan grant through the prestigious SFFilm Development Fund for his pitch 'Visible' on the life-changing discovery a scientist makes when she comes across a frog that can turn invisible. As a Sloan fellow, he has been invited to many events, including the National Academy of Sciences writers-retreat, where he was paired with a Quantum physicist (and consultant for Ant-Man) to develop a script in real-time.

His directorial debut, 'Woman's Best Friend', a silent comedy about a woman's consistent bad taste in men, won several awards. He has also written a musical, 'The Singing Revolution,' a love story told against the backdrop of the Soviet Union's occupation of Estonia, which debuted in 2022 to rave reviews and is currently scheduled for performances in the West End later this year.


SCRIPTS


FIVE POINTS (fka Freedom*) - ONE-HOUR PERIOD DRAMA
Academy Nicholl top 10% finalist 2021, Humanitas semi-finalist 2022
In the 1840s, in Five Points, New York, the love affair between an Irish immigrant and a Black freeman is pressured as their communities are slowly pitted against each other.


THE TRINITY KNOT (fka Kokoro) - FAMILY DRAMA - FEATURE
Sloan AFI prize winner 2022, Sloan Student Screenplay Finalist 2022
An AI engineer must return to his childhood home, so he can work together with his psychiatrist sister to diagnose their estranged doctor father, who has developed a mysterious illness. 


OTHER SCRIPTS AVAILABLE


SCRAWL - HORROR - FEATURE
A widower must learn to become a father to his son in the midst of trying to survive in the Bronx, having long overstayed his migrant visa. Survival takes on a new meaning when his deceased wife is made real by his son’s drawings. View the pitch

SUGAR  - DARK COMEDY - FEATURE
When a gay construction worker and his straight best friend blow all their money to live like the 1% for a weekend at Cannes, the two men decide to find sugar daddies to stay in the lifestyle they’ve come to love.


SMALL G - HALF-HOUR COMEDY
‘Small g’ is a half-hour comedy about a down-and-out potbellied loser called JESÚS, a lowly mail room employee, who is, in reality, the immortal but powerless former Greek god Zeus.

REVELATION

Writer/Director

A spiritual couple has a crisis of faith when by an unexplainable miracle, their gender reveal party reveals no gender.

REVELATION

Writer/Director

A spiritual couple has a crisis of faith when by an unexplainable miracle, their gender reveal party reveals no gender.

Woman with laptop
Woman with laptop
Woman with laptop
Woman with laptop
Woman with laptop
Woman with laptop

WOMAN'S BEST FRIEND

Writer/Director


A woman discovers her taste in dogs is just as bad as her taste in men.


AWARDS:

Film Language IFF
Geneve Awards
First time filmmaker
Lift-off filmmaker
WideScreen Film & Music Video Festival

THESIS FILM - THE LAST BUTTERFLY

Writer

A writer returns home to see her dying sister. As she tells her niece fables of the Hmong deity “Mother Butterfly," she remembers her mother who died in the same house years ago.

Awards

Oxford Shorts

The Bay film festival
Dublin Short Film Festival

Full Bloom Film Festival (winner)
Athens International (honorable mention)
LA Shorts Film Festival

THESIS FILM - THE LAST BUTTERFLY

Writer

A writer returns to her estranged family to see her ill sister. As she tells her niece fables of the Hmong deity “Mother Butterfly," past collides with the present.

Awards

Oxford Shorts

The Bay film festival
Dublin Short Film Festival

Full Bloom Film Festival (winner)
Athens International (honorable mention)
LA Shorts Film Festival

Woman with laptop
Woman with laptop
Woman with laptop