About
IMARA
We capture what words can’t hold.
Imara is Swahili for strong and enduring. We hold our work to that.
We’re a cinematic film and video production studio based in Malindi, Kenya. Videographer, filmmaker and photographer, working from Malindi and Watamu across Kenya and beyond.
Co-Founder, CEO & Director
Born and raised in Malindi, where the light gets you long before a camera does.
Michael left for Nairobi to study at the Multimedia University of Kenya, earned a diploma in film production and animation with a focus on animation and post-production. Then he freelanced across the country under the name Hunkey Creatives. Weddings, festivals, musicians, whatever came in front of the lens. Other people held the contracts. He held the camera.
Then Malindi again. Not passing through this time.
The idea came at the end of 2025. IMARA Film opened its doors in 2026, co-founded with Florian Alexander, who saw what he saw: a coast full of stories and nobody filming them properly. Not a freelancer with a camera.
A studio.
We built IMARA on one idea: cinematic quality and African storytelling belong together.
This coast is our home ground. We know its light, its seasons, its hidden corners.
We produce across Kenya. Same eye, same workflow, wherever the shoot takes us.
Most studios are still working out what AI means for them. IMARA Film built its own service for it, imarafilm.ai, with a clear line between what we document and what we change.
“Memories fade. Even the clearest ones. We make films so yours don’t.”Michael Baraka, Founder
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