Tayo Giwa and Cynthia Gordy Giwa are a husband-and-wife filmmaking team and the creators of Black-Owned Brooklyn, a publication and Instagram account documenting local Black business, history and culture. In this work they seek to preserve and celebrate stories that are often erased in gentrified Brooklyn. Their debut film, the 2020 documentary short Soul Summit: Doin’ It in the Park, examined Soul Summit, a beloved open-air house music party based in Fort Greene Park.

The Sun Rises in The East, their first feature, is the result of simply being unable to shake the story of The East since first learning about it. Drawing inspiration from the organization’s self-sufficient spirit, the Giwas directed, produced and wrote the film themselves without formal industry training. Given the film’s focus on Black self-determination and Brooklyn, the duo intentionally sought to work with Black collaborators connected to the borough, including editor Herman Jean-Noël, cinematographer Christina Wairegi, camera operator Eric Espino, colorist Natacha Ikoli and post-production audio mixer Ashley Simmons.

Tayo and Cynthia live in Bedford-Stuyvesant with their two daughters.