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Duncan Vezain is not new to movies or the filmmaking experience. The wrangler, wagon master, stunt man and, increasingly, actor, has been around for over a decade. On Sunday he was an actor but also a father, husband and friend, there to see two films he features in at the inaugural Yellowstone Film Festival at Cody’s Big Horn Cinemas.

Vezain first began his film career in Cody alongside Nick Gillett, who was a Cody saddle bronc rider, after a film crew asked who had horses available. Gillett and Vezain wrangled for the production and following Gillett’s death in a 2010 rodeo accident, the work continued to come through word of mouth. 

“What I do in movies is just a byproduct of what I do [day to day],” Vezain said, while standing in front of the posters for his two latest films.

Vezain’s day job includes training horses, carrying out wagon rides, driving cattle and building saddles and fur coats.

His credits have included being head wrangler on movies like “The Damned,” wagon master on “The Last Son,” which features Sam Worthington, Machine Gun Kelly and Thomas Jane, and wrangler and wagon expert on “Butcher’s Crossing,” starring Nicolas Cage. 

Vezain acted in small roles in all but “The Last Son.”

The first on Vezain’s viewing list for the day was a 2 p.m showing of “Tokyo Cowboy,” a dramedy focusing on a Japanese businessman’s efforts to turn a struggling Montana ranch into a leader in U.S. based wagyu beef, which has been the festival’s most popular film. In it the stoic businessman finds himself in Montana, with one character even mentioning his exploits in Pine Ridge, Wyoming.

In another scene the film’s main character Hideki, sits in front of a poster that declares, “Howdy Stranger! Welcome to Big Sky Country.” It’s a fitting set up for the rest of the movie which showcases Montana, its mountain ranges and its way of life.

Vezain, the head wrangler on the film, also plays a rugged ranch hand in the movie. His character is often quiet, but frequently featured in close-ups that zero in on his expressions, particularly in the film’s lighter moments. His best scenes caused a few giggles from Vezain and crew.

Second on Vezain’s viewing list was “Eastern Western,” a western movie about a European family trying to survive in the American West. The film heavily features Vezain and his family, including his daughters Olivia and Anna.

Vezain and family had seen “Tokyo Cowboy” but were heading into “Eastern Western” for the first time; he’d only seen the trailer.

“It’s always a gamble. ‘Tokyo Cowboy’ is one movie that I tell everybody all the time, ‘go watch it, anybody can watch it, it’s got a great story,’” Vezain said between showings, adding, “We worked on ‘Butcher’s Crossing,’ and that had all the potential going in to be ‘Dances with Wolves’ … it was a flop, on screen, it’s horrible, you just never know how they’re gonna turn out.”

The Yellowstone Film Festival was created to showcase independent films and people like Vezain who help make them happen.

Festival founder Jacob Graham, a longtime employee at Big Horn Cinemas and a Cody grad, is also an aspiring filmmaker. All his stories have been set in the Cody area.

“The end game, honestly, it’s just get people excited about independent film, because this is one finger on the hand of this idea to make films here,” Graham said.

He had the very first seeds of the idea in 2009, although it wasn’t a fleshed out idea at that time. A couple of years ago, he was assisting on a film project in the Cody area when he decided to step away and pursue the idea with the permission of Big Horn Cinemas owner Tony Beaverson, he said. The original plan included a larger roster of films.

“It originally started out as four screens. It was going to be four screens for a week, which just practically, even if we only played three films per day on each screen … it’s like 100 feature films, which is a lot, that’s like a lot,” Graham said.

The festival wound up having 78 short films, animations, documentaries and feature films from around the world.

“Tokyo Cowboy” was the only film requested by Graham, and “Eastern Western” helped make the festival possible, Graham said. He received a staggering amount of film submissions per day leading up to the festival but that in part comes with the festival’s free entry fee.

“I don’t think it was so much interest in this festival. I think that just comes with, like, setting things in motion,” Graham said. “I knew the first year wasn’t going to be what the fifth year is going to be.”

Graham and Yellowstone Media Company, which marketed the festival, already have plans for the future, including expanding the festival’s scope outside of film.

Feedback for many of the films has been nothing but positive, said Ken Straniere, who runs Yellowstone Media Company with his brother Brett.

“As far as the storytelling I mentioned that music is a part of that, books, graphic novels, comedy and all this, the vision is to grow this beyond the theater, that’s my vision is to make this a big kind of arts festival for the area,” Graham said.

As for Vezain, he was busy watching himself and his family immigrate to the west in “Eastern Western.” He can next be seen in the sci-fi film “The Steel Wind,” where he’s listed as a main cast
member.