RAFFY
FRANCISCO

Raffy Francisco occupies a rare intersection in filmmaking: he actually understands the brand side of the table.

Before stepping behind a camera professionally, Raffy spent years as a Brand Manager handling some of the world's most iconic consumer brands — Gillette (Gillette Rubie, Right Guard, Soft & Dri, PaperMate and Liquid Paper) and Unilever (Axe, Lifebuoy, Lux). He learned how brands think, how they speak, and what they need to feel true. Then he left it all to study filmmaking at NYU, because that was always the real pull.

What follows is one of the most prolific continuing runs in Philippine commercial and music video directing — work that doesn't just look good, but means something.

In 2009, that instinct was tested on the biggest creative stage in Asia. HP Space — Hewlett-Packard's pan-Asian reality TV competition, aired across the continent via the Star Network — drew over 16,000 entries from across Southeast Asia, dangling a USD $50,000 prize and a role on a Hollywood production for Asia's most creative talent. Raffy made it to the Top 3. And when the final challenge came — shooting a music video in three days — his was called "the most polished" of the three finalists. He didn't win the show. The music video he made inside it — on a budget of just US $300 — went on to win Malaysia's Shout Awards Best Music Video for Prom Queen by Bunkface. Retribution.

That dual fluency — brand strategist and storyteller — became his calling card in advertising film. He went in-house as director for leading production houses Unitel and 88 Storey Films, before founding RF Film Productions. Raffy remains available for freelance engagements: producers and agencies may collaborate with him directly through their production houses of choice, while clients looking to go straight to the source are welcome to reach RF Film Productions directly.

His ambitions have never been confined to a brief. He directed Bella Bandida for TV5 — a six-part live-action mini-series adapted from the beloved comic book character created by Philippine National Artist Francisco V. Coching. His first feature film, Breathe Again (2022, Viva Films), a love story set in the world of freediving, came from a place deeply personal — the same lifelong passion for the ocean that earned him 1st Place in the Compact Class – Macro/Supermacro Category at the prestigious 7th Anilao Underwater Shootout in 2021.

The work keeps evolving. His micro-dramas When Brothers Fall and A Mother's Vengeance for iWant mark his active push into hybrid AI-assisted production workflows — not as a trend to follow, but as a craft to master. That edge was put to the test at the 2025 Visionaries of AI Filmmaking Hackathon — the Philippines' first competitive tilt dedicated entirely to AI filmmaking — where Raffy Francisco and Kerwin Go took home the Audience Choice Award for their short film Watsonville.