Maia Lekow

Maia is a renowned Kenyan musician and filmmaker. Currently performing with her band Maia & the Big Sky on international stages, Maia fuses her music with a fascination of people and culture to make films as a documentary director, producer, composer & sound recordist. She was named a goodwill ambassador for UNHCR on World Refugee Day 2013 and has received an African Movie Academy Award for her song ‘Uko Wapi’.

Working together with husband Christopher King, their films are deeply personal, multi-layered character studies of some incredibly compelling humans. Their debut feature-documentary The Letter explores the inter-generational conflict currently happening within Maia’s father’s homeland, coastal Kenya, and has been supported by Sundance Documentary Fund, IDFA Bertha Fund, Hot Docs Blue Ice, Visions Sud Est and Docubox East African Film Fund. Maia also composed a stunning original score for the film, collaborating with Emmy-Award winning composer Ken Myhr.