About Our Western Film Maker and Director

Raen LeVell - Buffalo Daze Director and Film Maker checking shots on set

Raen LeVell is an award-winning film maker and director whose work continues the Western filmmaking tradition you'll be exploring on your tour.

For decades he's worked on location, directed professional actors, solved the many problems filmmakers face behind the camera, and spent a lifetime studying the directors and movies that defined the Western film-making genre.

Raen is also a Cannes International Festival winner, a three-time Accolade Global Film Competition winner, a winner of the Best Shorts and Impact Docs (an acolade that contribute to an entry to the Academy Awards!) and numerous festivals around the world, including the Melbourne Independent Film Festival (Australia), the Dubai International Film Festival (UAE), and the Dreamspeakers International Film Festival (Canada).

His previous movie, Buffalo Daze, has an ensemble cast from Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone universe” and is a current Amazon streaming hit.

Outriding the Devil, his present feature-length docudrama, has been the No. 1 ranked Western documentary on IMDb for most of 2026.

Raen has worked with a roster of high-profile actors in the contemporary Western and Neo-Western genres, including:

Zahn McClarnon (Dark Winds),

Eric Nelsen (1883),

Mo Brings Plenty (Yellowstone),

Chris Mulkey (A Broken Trail),

Crystle Lightning (Lawmen: Bass Reeves)

Forrie J. Smith (Yellowstone),

Eddie Spears (Hell on Wheels),

Eugene Brave Rock (Dark Winds)

and other great actors (see gallery).

Says Western Film Maker and Director Raen . . .

Tourism

"In the film industry, the two most resonant pieces of advice I have received came from the late, great Robert Duvall, and the amazingly talented Zahn McClarnon.

Robert Duvall once told me, “my advice is to follow your dreams because you never know where they might lead you.”

As inspirational as that was, Zahn’s was more cautionary, “understand that your present job may be the last job you get in this business.”

Together, I think they offer a meaningful balance and important guidance."

In the realm of tourism, Raen was one of the earliest winners of the prestigious Wanderlust World Guide Awards, and is the recipient of several state historical society awards. His biggest influence in filmmaking was the late Robert Duvall, whom he had the privilege to correspond with.