Founded in 2009 by wife & husband team Maia Lekow & Christopher King, Circle & Square Productions is a film & music company based in Nairobi, Kenya.

We believe that artful, long-form storytelling has the power to transform society by triggering important conversations that hold a mirror to our world and break down barriers, compelling us to reflect and imagine what is possible. Our films have been supported by organisations including Sundance Institute, Docubox East Africa Film Fund, IDFA Bertha Fund, Hot Docs Blue Ice Group, Doc Society, Visions Sud Est, Catapult Film Fund and Chicken & Egg Pictures.

The debut feature The Letter (IDFA 2019) was selected as Kenya’s official submission to the 93rd Academy Awards for Best International Feature while the sophomore feature How to Build a Library (currently in production) is schedule for completion in 2023.  

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. Maia and Chris’ second feature doc How to Build a Library premiered at Sundance 2025 in the World Cinema Documentary Competition and is currently travelling film festivals across the globe. Maia has also composed a stunning original scores for both films, collaborating with composers Ken Myhr and Katya Mihailova.

CHRISTOPHER KING

Christopher is an award-winning filmmaker, originally from Melbourne, Australia, he has lived & worked in Kenya since 2007 where he founded Circle & Square Productions with his wife Maia Lekow in Nairobi.

A fluent swahili speaker, Chris has worked on the bleeding edge of Nairobi's creative scene for more than 14 years as a freelance cinematographer, editor, director, producer and video artist, winning an African Movie Academy Award for editing in 2009.

His first feature, The Letter which he co-directed and co-produced with wife Maia Lekow was Kenya's official submission to the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021, while Chris & Maia’s second feature doc How to Build a Library premiered at Sundance 2025 in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.