Joel Vetsch started to become interested in film as a medium and direction for his life at a very young age, when he first saw "Raiders of the Lost Ark". That film changed him forever, sparking an insatiable appetite for watching films of all genres, domestic or foreign, black & white or color, with sound or even without in old silent films. Through the process of being exposed to these classic and contemporary works Joel began to establish his own visual style and technique to making movies.

At 12 years old Joel started to shoot his own movies - acting & directing in his own western and adventure shorts. One of his early films was  a short called "Indiana Jones and the Mummy's Curse", where his younger brother Josh played the mummy in the "tomb" (which was really a root cellar). Josh was decked out in old cloth, and was waiting inside behind an old wooden door which was staged to open at the touch of a "button". Someone stood up on top, ready to move the "door" (plywood) at the right moment.

Joel's debut film was a western entitled "Jesse's End", where he starred as an outlaw who got shot down in a gun fight after robbing three banks. Joel lived out in the countryside of southeastern Montana at that time, so he used some of the long deserted old homestead cabins dotted amongst the hills as the locations for the banks and sheriff's office.

Recently Joel has landed roles in some upcoming CT & MA feature films, and is planning on

Please contact Joel Vetsch via email below with any question or inquiry, on directing, writing, or acting in a project.