Private Project

The Leerie

In 1899, a Scottish lamplighter facing redundancy is haunted by nightmarish visions of an electric future.

  • Joseph Daly
    Director
    Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain, She Dreams, Portrait
  • Stuart Armstrong Armstrong
    Writer
    Paul Is Dead
  • Joseph Daly
    Writer
    Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain, She Dreams, Portrait
  • Kieran Nolan Jones
    Producer
    Jelly Brain
  • Ian Pirie
    Key Cast
    "The Leerie"
    The Matrix 4, Calibre, Sunset Song
  • Noof Ousellam
    Key Cast
    "John Allan"
    Hanna, Guilt
  • Isobel Wood
    Key Cast
    "The Spirit"
    Armpit!, Farewell Waltz
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Horror, Surreal, Period
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 59 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 13, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    20,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, ARRI
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Joseph Daly

Joseph Daly is a West Midlands based filmmaker, he has directed and been on the production team for a number of short films that have played at short film festivals including BFI Scene, Channel 4 Random Acts, Kinofilm festival and on Sky One’s Short Film Show.

He is currently beginning a festival run for his BFI NETWORK-funded short, The Leerie.

Joseph's previous directed works include Portrait, She Dreams and Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain, and he has a first-class honours degree from University of the Arts London, where he studied BA Film Practice.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

'The Leerie' is a working class story at its heart. It's about a man who is alienated by the technological advancements in his work field and his inability to join the world of the 20th century.

The eponymous gas lamplighter is a lonely, stoic spectre of the past, for whom the future is coming fast and taking no prisoners.

The Leerie uses stylised subtitles to help audiences connect with the period accurate Scots language, which co-writer Stuart and I are very proud to showcase. During the writing process we worked with Dr Susan Rennie, an expert on Scots translation, and developed the dialogue further to suit the native Doric dialect of our lead actor Ian Pirie.

My aim in this was to create a rich atmosphere that captures the essence of Victorian Aberdeenshire, as well as to sustain a link to the Scots poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson and W. D. Cocker, whose work, along with the short stories of Gothic writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, inspired the film.

Thank you for watching, I hope you enjoy The Leerie.