Philippines-based director Paco Raterta demonstrates his talent for epic imagery and gripping atmosphere with his captivating video for Gaika.

It's a remote setting, with the singer surrounded by hooded monks and acolytes with their faces blurred out, where the camera moves at top speed through each scene. 

“The first time I heard Crown & Key, it reminded me of the funeral chants in the chapels of the village where I grew up, and it opened up all the biblical nightmares I use to have as a kid," says Raterta, who has now signed to Pulse Films for representation in the UK for music videos and commercials.   

Raterta, who grew up in a small fisherman town in the Philippines, won a scholarship at the International Academy of Film and Television in Cebu, after which he followed a career in editing, working on commercials for top level brands such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Samsung. Paco moved on to directing as he started out a longstanding relationship with renowned artist David Choe, with whom he is currently working on an experimental ongoing project that mixes art, filmmaking and music.

For his new Gaika video, he has referenced Christian symbolism rooted in Philippine society, and a strong part of his own upbringing. 

"If you know Christian visuals, they are very grotesque, stiff and very beautiful at the same time," he says. "The camera movement is inspired again by my memories as an altar boy, it’s basically a POV memory of mine, entering the church, carrying the bible and seeing everyone around, but the faces were always never clear, I can feel like they are looking at me, but I don't see them at all.”