For Seychellois filmmaker, Arthur Turcotte, what started as a simple passion has slowly metamorphosed into something bigger.
Growing up in a small island nation located in the Indian Ocean in East Africa, Turcotte was introduced into films at a tender age by his fixer father, who would always bring him on international film sets.
After leaving school, however, the young but passionate Arthur Turcotte fashioned his own path in filmmaking. Now, he’s on the way to being a major film producer in Seychelles. Here, he tells his story to Showbiz Afrika:
“I grew up in the Seychelles, a small island nation in the Indian Ocean in East Africa. I was introduced into films from a very young age, pretty much my whole life, mainly because my father is a fixer in the Seychelles and he would bring me on international film sets all the time.
Once I left school, I decided to pursue my own path through local filmmaking. At a time when there was no action cinema being produced locally, I wanted to prove that Seychellois filmmakers could create ambitious, cinematic stories just like anywhere else in the world. That vision eventually became BananaWAVE.
I founded BananaWAVE as more than just a production brand; it became a movement driven by passion, creativity, and the desire to build a real film culture in Seychelles. What started as a simple passion project with friends at school, slowly evolved into something much larger, bringing together local actors, creatives, filmmakers, and supporters who believed that cinema in Seychelles could reach a new level.
From horror to action
One of my first major productions was The House Beyond an Excursion, a horror suspense short film that introduced audiences to a darker and more cinematic style rarely explored locally.
The story is about a group of friends discovering a mysterious abandoned house where one goes missing. It started with three friends and practically no budget.
The success of this film allowed me to produce a much more ambitious project titled Operation Shadow Cloak, which became recognised as the first action film produced in Seychelles. I wrote and directed the film with the goal of creating something people never expected to see from a small Island nation.
The story follows a computer programmer, who creates a dangerous digital virus that a mercenary group is trying to obtain. Jeffrey Bandade, a secret agent from Seychelles, is assigned to protect both the creator and the virus. As the situation escalates, he finds himself facing relentless attacks and fighting to survive against overwhelming forces.
Challenge
Creating an action film in Seychelles was an enormous challenge. We didn’t have the large budgets, studios, or infrastructure that major film industries rely on. Most of what we achieved came from determination, improvisation, and learning through experience. The production took over two years of work.
For me, BananaWAVE represents more than filmmaking. It represents a new generation of Seychellois creators who are no longer waiting for opportunities to come from elsewhere. We are building our own stories, our own productions, and our own future in cinema. I want people to see that even a small island nation can create films that are ambitious, emotional, action-packed, and all simply full of surprises.
Turcotte’s goal
Today, BananaWAVE continues to grow, and we are already working toward even larger scale productions. My goal has always been to push the limits of what is possible in Seychelles filmmaking, and to inspire others to believe that their ideas can become reality, no matter where they come from.”