# Violeta Ayala

> Film Futurist, AI Innovator and Creative Technologist. Mozilla Fellow 26/27. Filmmaker, artist, technologist and writer, and the first Quechua member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her films, VR, AR and AI works, performances, writing and talks, year by year.

I'm a storyteller, a fighter. I build systems and worlds, regardless of the genre, in the form that makes most sense to me in the moment: documentaries, virtual and augmented reality, AI installations, robots, data sets, writing, drawing, making collages, protests and live performance. This is a glimpse of the world around me, a sort of evolution of a jaguaress that refuses to be captured. I believe a different world is possible. It's in our collective hands and imaginations.

Website: https://violetaayala.com/
En español: https://violetaayala.com/es/

The first Bolivian Quechua director member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars).

## Films

- October 2023, La Lucha, SXSW Sydney. After its premiere at BlackStar, La Lucha screens at SXSW Sydney.
- August 2023, La Lucha, BlackStar Film Festival, Philadelphia, Official Competition. A caravan of people with disabilities crosses the Andes to La Paz to fight for their rights. World premiere. 90 minutes.
- September 2017, Cocaine Prison, Toronto International Film Festival, Official Selection. Three Bolivians at the lowest levels of the cocaine trade. Two inmates film their lives inside the prison; the sister of one must decide whether to carry cocaine or go to university. 75 minutes.
- May 2017, [The Fight](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/may/05/the-fight-disability-rights-protestors-in-bolivia-on-the-barricades), The Guardian. People with disabilities march across the Andes to La Paz to ask for a pension. They meet riot police, barricades and water cannon. With Dan Fallshaw. 29 minutes.
- May 2015, The Bolivian Case, Hot Docs, Toronto, Special Presentation. Three Norwegian teenagers are caught smuggling cocaine out of Bolivia. Why does only one take the fall? 85 minutes.
- September 2009, Stolen, Toronto International Film Festival, Official Selection. We travel to North Africa to make one film and find another. A Sahrawi refugee is reunited with her mother, and the reunion reveals a secret. My first feature, with Dan Fallshaw. 78 minutes.
- 2006, [United Notions Film](https://unitednotions.film/), Sydney. I co-found United Notions Film with Dan Fallshaw, to challenge the status quo. We are working against the techno authoritarian future. We use artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality and 3D production as tools to democratise storytelling.

## Art

- 2026, [Huk](https://unitednotions.film/research.html), Mila and Abundant Intelligences, Montreal. I'm expanding Huk into a collective intelligence model, where Indigenous AI, dance, affective computing and ecology meet.
- 28 October 2026, Yakumama, MozFest 2026, Fabra i Coats, Barcelona. There are two of her. One is printed. The other swims in the salt flat on the screen. They share one mood, so they change colour at the same time. Neither is the copy.
- 24 September 2026, Las Awichas, UNGA81 week, Foreign Policy lounge, New York. Las Awichas in augmented reality. Postcards are the trigger.
- 19 September 2025, [Todo Nace Desde Lo Pequeño](https://www.koa.xyz/tao), Festival Ollantay, El Martadero, Cochabamba. A live performance, 20 minutes, where Andean cosmology meets AI. Four dancers embody elemental spirits, Earth, Water, Wind and Jaguar, and move through states from seeds to digital networks. The AI answers a mythology we built together over seven weeks.
- 26 June 2025, Las Awichas, SURREALITY, HKUST, Guangzhou. Eight robotic spirit animals from the Nazca Lines, in a large multi-user mixed reality, 26 June to 26 August 2025. Visitors meet robotic creatures in a dreamlike world, and see how our grandmothers shaped our world as we now shape the future with artificial intelligence.
- 31 May 2025, Computational Creativity Co-Creation Lab, Cochabamba. We bring paper cuts to life with Stream Diffusion, a kinetic camera and a Raspberry Pi. Two projectors light the room: one runs on a Python system that answers in real time, the other on TouchDesigner.
- 16 May 2025, El Cholaverso, Larga Noche de Museos, El Martadero, Cochabamba. A community gallery turns into a neon dream forest. Five projectors wash the walls with city glyphs generated by AI on site, while 3D printed jaguars shimmer under living skins that answer every move in the room.
- 9 April 2025, Huk the Jaguaress, NewImages Festival, Forum des Images, Paris. A pop-up tent of 80 m² beside Les Halles becomes the jungle cell of Huk the Jaguaress (2024). Five projectors wrap three walls and the ceiling in living vines and flame, all driven by the contextual AI of Huk. Six jaguars of recycled PLA, each in its own diorama of orchids and monstera, take on new skins when a step or a whisper reaches the sensors, and a luminous hummingbird stitches the space together.
- March 2025, Huk the Jaguaress, CPH:DOX INTER:ACTIVE, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen. Huk the Jaguaress (2024), an AI installation co-created with Yasmeen Hitti. She uses robotics and runs locally. We weave five AIs to give Huk the power to fight the burning of the Amazon. She sees through a robotic camera, feels through sensors, speaks through a crafted voice and turns what she perceives into cinema in real time.
- February 2025, [FAIR FUTURE: Feminist AI](https://unitednotions.film/research/fair-future-feminist-ai.html), VIP Studio, University of Nottingham. A residency I co-lead with Yasmeen Hitti: workshops and hack jams on collective intelligence and care.
- September 2024, Huk the Jaguaress, Mila, Quebec AI Institute, and the UQAM Gallery, Montreal. Huk the Jaguaress is born here, in 2024: Huk 1.0, made in ten full-time weeks of the first Mila AI art residency. She uses robotics and runs locally, on our own computers, with no cloud. A spare lab becomes her cradle: three projectors, a depth camera and six moss-wrapped plinths are enough for the prototype to breathe, speak and make micro-films on the fly.
- 7 March 2024, [Las Awichas](https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/las-awichas-2024-c-violeta-ayala), GLOW: Illuminating Innovation, the Strand, King's College London. An original augmented reality commission for GLOW, in the Arcade on the Strand, 7 March to 20 April 2024. Grandmothers weave magic into robotic animals, from geckos to jaguars, who answer your hands and your voice.
- 2023, Games+. A collection of immersive and interactive short experiences that fuse gaming, film, interactivity and immersion to reimagine the very concept of storytelling.
- 2023, Experimenting: interactive video walls. Touch or click anywhere on the screen to make a burst of animation. Drag the animations around to make your own composition.
- October 2023, Prison X, SXSW Sydney, International Convention Centre. A double booth. A black-box bay becomes a Neo-Andean sala de estar, with aguayo textiles on every wall and couch. Guests sink into leather sofas, put on headsets and vanish inside the myth, while their avatars dance across six LED screens above them. Two VR stations, 300 players in three days, each journey a full 30 minutes.
- October 2023, Set 3: an interactive video wall, SXSW Sydney. Touch or click anywhere on the screen to make a burst of animation. Drag the animations around to make your own composition.
- 18 July 2023, [Woven Worlds](https://leonwang55.itch.io/woven-worlds), Games for Change, New York. A VR interactive story game, 15 minutes. It receives the special recognition for XR innovation at the XR Brain Jam of Games for Change.
- June 2023, Flower Stamps. An interactive piece where flowers bloom at your touch or click. Each touch makes a flower, and the picture keeps changing.
- March 2023, [Neo-Andean fashion and synthography](https://violetaayala.com/post/digital-fashion/).
- 21 September 2022, [Las Awichas](https://www.spatial.io/s/Las-Awichas-2022-6350b9874050e10001cf22d3), El Martadero, Cochabamba. The world premiere, September to December 2022, in a hall of 300 m². AI and post-photography: portraits of Andean grandmothers and their spirit animals.
- 2021, [KOA.XYZ](https://www.koa.xyz/), Voxels. K'OA is an Andean ceremony of reciprocity to the Pachamama, Mother Earth. We are building the Neo-Andean metaverse.
- January 2021, Prison X: The Devil and The Sun, Sundance Film Festival, New Frontier. A VR animation, 35 minutes, set in the San Sebastián prison of Cochabamba. It premieres at Sundance, then travels to Cannes and festivals and museums around the world. Art in America: it "asserts Indigenous aesthetics and cosmologies."
- 2019, Showekon, In development. After the birth of her twin cubs, Showekon, the Goddess of the Amazon, struggles to protect her home from the threat of the bipeds. Mixing immersive VR cinema and hand painted scenes in the style of children's storybooks, Showekon is an animated series about endangered animals of the world.

## Writing

- 2026, [sala.red](https://sala.red), Cochabamba. I direct sala.red. From Bolivia, sala.red investigates, analyses and comments on how technology, from cables to artificial intelligence, shapes society in the Global South: politics, infrastructure and power relations. What I wrote there in 2026:
  - 4 October 2026, [¿De dónde saca sus respuestas un chatbot?](https://sala.red/datos/de-donde-saca-sus-respuestas-un-chatbot)
  - 3 October 2026, [YPFB le debe 67 millones de dólares a Futura](https://sala.red/poder/ypfb-le-debe-67-millones-de-dolares-a-futura)
  - 1 October 2026, [¿Quién es Futura?](https://sala.red/poder/quien-es-futura)
  - 1 October 2026, [Futura dice que le vende a YPFB](https://sala.red/poder/futura-dice-que-le-vende-a-ypfb)
  - 28 September 2026, [Separata o Siglo Pasado](https://sala.red/poder/separata-o-siglo-pasado)
  - 28 September 2026, [CondoSat](https://sala.red/cables/condosat)
  - 25 September 2026, [Plan B contra el espionaje](https://sala.red/cables/plan-b-contra-el-espionaje)
  - 22 September 2026, [¿Por dónde gobierna el presidente?](https://sala.red/poder/por-donde-gobierna-el-presidente)
  - 19 September 2026, [¿Con qué licencia opera Starlink?](https://sala.red/datos/con-que-licencia-opera-starlink)
  - 17 September 2026, [TKSat-1](https://sala.red/cables/tksat-1)
  - 16 September 2026, [El Candado](https://sala.red/poder/el-candado)
  - 16 September 2026, [Me escondieron a mí comunidad](https://sala.red/poder/me-escondieron-a-mi-comunidad)
  - 16 September 2026, [Primero La Ley](https://sala.red/datos/primero-la-ley)
  - 13 September 2026, [Apagar el algoritmo](https://sala.red/datos/apagar-el-algoritmo)
  - September 2026, [El zinc que no se vende](https://sala.red/cables/el-zinc-que-no-se-vende)
  - 11 September 2026, [El país sin mar por donde pasan los datos](https://sala.red/cables/el-pais-sin-mar-por-donde-pasan-los-datos)
  - 3 September 2026, [Somos el experimento](https://sala.red/datos/somos-el-experimento)
  - 2 September 2026, [¿Cómo se encuentra un voto?](https://sala.red/poder/como-se-encuentra-un-voto)
  - 30 August 2026, [El escudo](https://sala.red/datos/el-escudo)
  - 30 August 2026, [¿Quién es Rodrigo Paz?](https://sala.red/datos/quien-es-rodrigo-paz)
  - 27 August 2026, [El Socio](https://sala.red/poder/el-socio)
  - 25 August 2026, [Te Conocen](https://sala.red/datos/te-conocen)
  - 24 August 2026, [El mismo escándalo, distinto precio](https://sala.red/ideas/el-mismo-escandalo-distinto-precio)
  - 22 August 2026, [La pantalla Cerimedo](https://sala.red/poder/la-pantalla-cerimedo)
  - 21 August 2026, [El cuerpo sabe la música](https://sala.red/laboratorio/el-cuerpo-sabe-la-musica)
  - 19 August 2026, [La máquina que aterrizó en Bolivia](https://sala.red/poder/la-maquina-que-aterrizo-en-bolivia)
  - 18 August 2026, [Río Abajo](https://sala.red/datos/rio-abajo)
  - 15 August 2026, [35 días y 12 millones de hectáreas](https://sala.red/datos/35-dias-y-12-millones-de-hectareas)
  - 15 August 2026, [El mito de los conejos](https://sala.red/datos/el-mito-de-los-conejos)
  - 14 August 2026, [El catastro que nadie actualiza](https://sala.red/datos/el-catastro-que-nadie-actualiza)
  - 2 August 2026, [Seguimos comprando agua de las cisternas](https://sala.red/poder/seguimos-comprando-agua-de-las-cisternas)
  - 2 August 2026, [H2O e IA](https://sala.red/cables/h2o-e-ia)
  - 2 August 2026, [La Montaña es el refugio](https://sala.red/datos/la-montana-es-el-refugio)
  - 31 July 2026, [Multihabilidades, o gente de otra galaxia](https://sala.red/ideas/multihabilidades-o-gente-de-otra-galaxia)
  - 28 July 2026, [Por Cuenta Propia](https://sala.red/datos/por-cuenta-propia)
  - 25 July 2026, [Tepito ya construyó el futuro](https://sala.red/cultura/tepito-ya-construyo-el-futuro)
  - 13 July 2026, [El zinc se va con pasajeros ocultos](https://sala.red/cables/el-zinc-se-va-con-pasajeros-ocultos)
  - 11 July 2026, [La Cancha es el Mapa](https://sala.red/ideas/la-cancha-es-el-mapa)
  - 10 July 2026, [El poder detrás de la pantalla: ¿segmentación o manipulación?](https://sala.red/laboratorio/el-poder-detras-de-la-pantalla-segmentacion-o-manipulacion)
  - 7 July 2026, [El Quipu Que Baila](https://sala.red/cultura/el-quipu-que-baila)
  - 5 July 2026, [Los Minerales Críticos de Bolivia. Parte 2](https://sala.red/cables/los-minerales-criticos-de-bolivia-parte-2)
  - 30 June 2026, [El poder detrás de la portada](https://sala.red/poder/el-poder-detras-de-la-portada)
  - 27 June 2026, [Un dólar libre y un país hipotecado](https://sala.red/datos/un-dolar-libre-y-un-pais-hipotecado)
  - 25 June 2026, [El feed reemplaza al noticiero](https://sala.red/datos/el-feed-reemplaza-al-noticiero)
  - 23 June 2026, [El que pierde grita fraude](https://sala.red/ideas/el-que-pierde-grita-fraude)
  - 23 June 2026, [Dieciocho mil paredes](https://sala.red/laboratorio/dieciocho-mil-paredes)
  - 20 June 2026, [Del estaño al litio, el mismo decreto](https://sala.red/poder/del-estano-al-litio-el-mismo-decreto)
  - 16 June 2026, [Cinco empresas de vigilancia operan sobre Bolivia](https://sala.red/poder/cinco-empresas-de-vigilancia-operan-sobre-bolivia)
  - 14 June 2026, [La inteligencia ya es territorio](https://sala.red/poder/la-inteligencia-ya-es-territorio)
  - 12 June 2026, [Salar de Uyuni](https://sala.red/laboratorio/salar-de-uyuni)
  - 8 June 2026, [Los minerales críticos de Bolivia](https://sala.red/cables/los-minerales-criticos-de-bolivia)
  - 30 May 2026, [Moltbot no tiene alma. Tiene un sistema de instrucciones](https://sala.red/articulo/moltbot-no-tiene-alma-tiene-un-sistema-de-instrucciones)
- 20 August 2025, [Bolivia, un país que camina con sus ancestras](https://violetaayala.com/es/post/bolivia-un-pais-que-camina-con-sus-ancestras/), Blog.
- 30 May 2025, [Caseras, cripto y caos: la revolución de abajo hacia arriba](https://violetaayala.com/es/post/caseras-cripto-y-caos-la-revolucion-de-abajo-hacia-arriba/), Blog.
- 14 January 2025, [The Chatbot and I](https://violetaayala.com/post/the-chatbot-and-i-reimagining-stories-in-conversation/), Blog.
- 2 January 2025, [Fragments of 2024](https://violetaayala.com/post/fragments-of-2024/), Blog.
- 31 January 2024, [AGUA](https://violetaayala.com/post/_agua/), Blog.
- 17 December 2023, [Postales de Cochabamba 2023](https://violetaayala.com/es/post/postales-de-cochabamba-2023/), Blog.
- 2 October 2023, [Creating in Fast-Forward: A Journey in Rapid Prototyping with Runway ML](https://violetaayala.com/post/creating-in-fast-forward-a-journey-in-rapid-prototyping-with-runway-ml/), Blog.
- 2 September 2023, [Exploring the Future of XR & AI: A Conversation with Kent Bye](https://violetaayala.com/post/exploring-the-future-of-xr-ai-a-conversation-with-kent-bye/), Blog.
- 23 March 2023, [Unmasking Gendered Violence: Lidia Thorpe, Trans Rights and the Call for Unity](https://violetaayala.com/post/unmasking-gendered-violence-lidia-thorpe-trans-rights-and-the-call-for-unity/), Blog.
- 14 March 2023, [Digital Fashion](https://violetaayala.com/post/digital-fashion/), Blog.
- 16 January 2023, [El Postvideo](https://violetaayala.com/es/post/el-postvideo/), Blog.
- 8 December 2022, [El Jatun Runa](https://violetaayala.com/es/post/el-jatun-runa/), Blog.
- 12 November 2022, [Mocap](https://violetaayala.com/es/post/mocap/), Blog.
- 11 November 2022, [Expylab](https://violetaayala.com/post/expylab/), Blog.
- 10 November 2022, [LAS AWICHAS](https://violetaayala.com/post/las-awichas/), Blog.
- 10 November 2022, [The Fight - Panel](https://violetaayala.com/post/the-fight-panel/), Blog.
- 10 November 2022, [La Pelea - Conversatorio](https://violetaayala.com/es/post/la-pelea-conversatorio/), Blog.
- 26 July 2022, [Awichas](https://www.koa.xyz/zine/awichas), Ephemera, koa.xyz.
- 20 July 2022, [Photo Facts](https://www.koa.xyz/zine/photofacts), Ephemera, koa.xyz.
- February 2022, [Yabun 2022](https://violetaayala.substack.com/p/yabun), Substack.
- 2021, [The Jaguar Glossary](https://violetaayala.com/glossary/). A personal glossary of technology for storytellers, from 360 video to three.js.
- February 2021, [Bringing water](https://violetaayala.com/assets/files/community-board-zine-2021-02.pdf), The Community Board. Who is in production? I'm in post-production, and we have just finished the beta testing of Prison X. The gap is growing between traditional films and 3D, and we're not talking about the ethics, or about how we will own our own work.
- December 2020, [Pasanaku, Hui, Susu](https://violetaayala.com/assets/files/community-board-zine-2020-12.pdf), The Community Board. Our second meeting falls on 8 December 2020, the day water starts trading on Wall Street. I talk about the heart: small and simple, the hardest working muscle, it does everything, production, development, distribution. Owning our work is key for our liberation, and I want us to get into distribution as a group.
- November 2020, [Decision-making and collective leadership models](https://violetaayala.com/assets/files/community-board-zine-2020-11.pdf), The Community Board. Sonya Childress, Sabaah Folayan, Assia Boundaoui and I fund the Community Board: thirteen documentary filmmakers, and each meeting becomes a zine. In this one I write Power and true revolution, from the inaugural speech of David Choquehuanca, Vice President of Bolivia: we haven't changed the nature of power, power has changed us.
- July 2020, [Plan of Action: BIPOC Documentary Professionals Respond to the Pandemic and Protest Movement](https://filmmakermagazine.com/109886-plan-of-action/), Filmmaker Magazine. With Claire Cao and Miasarah Lai.
- 20 February 2017, [Recognition is for white Australia.](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/recognition-is-for-white-australia/), The Huffington Post.
- 3 February 2017, [Advance Australia White](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/advance-australia-white/), The Huffington Post.
- 22 January 2017, [#WhyIMarch](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/whyimarch/), The Huffington Post.
- 12 December 2016, [Prisoner #B57661](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/prisoner-b57661/), The Huffington Post.
- 28 November 2016, [The Water War](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/the-water-war/), The Huffington Post.
- 18 September 2016, [Liberté, égalité, fraternité?](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/liberte-egalite-fraternite/), The Huffington Post.
- 27 June 2016, [The Wicked Granny](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/the-wicked-granny/), The Huffington Post.
- 27 May 2016, [Water Canons Used On Disabled Protestors in Bolivia](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/water-canons-used-on-disabled-protestors-in-bolivia/), The Huffington Post.
- 25 May 2016, [My Right to Live with Dignity](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/my-right-to-live-with-dignity/), The Huffington Post.
- 13 January 2016, [Fair Trade Cocaine](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/fair-trade-cocaine/), The Huffington Post.
- 4 January 2016, [White People on Patrol](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/white-people-on-patrol/), The Huffington Post.
- 13 August 2015, [The Firsthand Racism I Experienced in Australia](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/the-firsthand-racism-i-experienced-in-australia/), The Huffington Post.
- 4 November 2013, [Is Bolivia the New Afghanistan, or Is O'Grady From The WSJ Delusional?](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/is-bolivia-the-new-afghanistan/), The Huffington Post.
- 5 August 2013, [The Whistleblowers and Latin America](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/the-whistleblowers-and-latin-america/), The Huffington Post.
- 5 July 2013, [What If Snowden Was on Board the Bolivian President's Jet?](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/what-if-snowden-was-on-board/), The Huffington Post.
- 18 June 2013, [Cocaine: Just a Commodity?](https://violetaayala.com/huffpost/cocaine-just-a-commodity/), The Huffington Post.
- February 2013, First Person: The 'Stolen' Filmmakers Explain How a Doc About Refugees Became a Controversial Film About Reported Slavery, IndieWire. With Dan Fallshaw.
- October 2006, [Police start Woodside probe over bribery claim](https://www.theage.com.au/business/police-start-woodside-probe-over-bribery-claim-20061013-ge3br8.html), The Age. With Kate Askew.
- June 2006, [Slick operator](https://www.smh.com.au/business/slick-operator-20060603-gdnocc.html), The Sydney Morning Herald. With Kate Askew. On the front page.

## Talks

- 24 September 2026, Overcoming the Imagination Chokepoint, A simulation by Foreign Policy and the Mozilla Foundation, UNGA81, New York. I take part in Overcoming the Imagination Chokepoint, a simulation by Foreign Policy and the Mozilla Foundation, during the week of UNGA81. It runs under the Chatham House Rule.
- 10 April 2025, [AI and Immersive Environments: Rethinking Creative Processes and Interactions](https://www.instagram.com/p/DIS1qn5IeX6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==), Paris.
- 25 March 2025, [Adaptive Storytelling: Crafting Frameworks for the AI + Automation Era](https://cphdox.dk/industry-event/cphconference-dialogues-1/), Copenhagen.
- 9 October 2024, From Stories to Systems: The Future of Film, YouTube.
- August 2024, [Asia Blockchain Summit, ABS2024](https://abs.io/abs024/speakers/violeta-ayala/), Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Taipei. On stage with Catherine Lu, Pochang Wu and Suji Yan, founder of Mask Network. Vitalik Buterin sits in the front row.
- 6 May 2024, [Pódcast Los Tiempos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igEfewiq97s), Cochabamba.
- 25 April 2024, [GLOW: Illuminating Innovation, with Sarah Atkinson and Lisa Jamhoury](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iovz9I7Kgpw), Spatial.
- 17 April 2024, [Radio Sayubu](https://www.facebook.com/100063588820366/videos/1200926924607499), Cochabamba.
- 8 December 2023, [AI as Alchemy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aaz5gGtnGYs), Cape Town.
- 14 November 2023, [Las Infinitas Posibilidades de Creacion con la Inteligencia Artificial](https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSY2VcWnD/), Asuncion.
- 19 October 2023, [Ethics, Anonymity & Deep Fakes: A Conversation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXDjkH5nAh8), Los Angeles.
- 5 March 2023, [Film Futurism](https://www.aidc.com.au/event/film-futurism-with-violeta-ayala/), Melbourne.
- 20 February 2023, [Decolonising virtual spaces](https://electricdreamsfestival.com/conference/), Adelaide.
- 9 February 2023, [Film, Futurism and Blockchain](https://www.efm-berlinale.de/en/diversity-inclusion/toolbox-programmes/fiction-toolbox/fiction-toolbox.html), Berlin.
- 23 January 2023, [AI, XR & new forms of Social Elimination](https://www.revistarascacielos.com/2023/02/13/de-la-calle-a-la-academia-la-polinizacion-subversiva-de-maria-galindo-y-mujeres-creando/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=de-la-calle-a-la-academia-la-polinizacion-subversiva-de-maria-galindo-y-mujeres-creando), La Paz.
- 25 October 2022, [El Cholaverso](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygDM2rEdEiA), Mexico City.
- 18 August 2022, [La unión hace la fuerza: Metaverso latinoamericano](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuCKkr1AYzo&t=1525s), Santiago.
- 9 June 2022, [Prison X & Building the Neo Andean Metaverse](https://www.forumdesimages.fr/media/fdi/35787-brochure_nif22_bat-planches.pdf), Paris.
- 25 March 2022, [Envision and Materialise your own Digital Identity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7aFq5efD3U), Cape Town.
- 18 March 2022, [Futurism keynote, William and Louise Greaves Filmmaker Seminar](https://www.blackstarfest.org/news/press/blackstar-film-festival-2022-announcement/), BlackStar, Philadelphia.
- 10 December 2021, [Making the Metaverse, part 1: case studies](https://dxfest.com/conference/making-the-metaverse-part-1-case-studies/), DC/DOX, Washington DC.
- 4 November 2021, [Creativas LATAM XR](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjhsdQzWxiU), Santiago.
- 16 July 2021, [Film Futurism](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PsNbkVLl1U), Games for Change, New York.
- 8 January 2021, [Editing History, a Sundance panel](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM1hAftX6U4), Utah.
- 2 July 2020, [Emerging, Gifted and X with Violeta Ayala](https://www.facebook.com/aftrs/videos/emerging-gifted-and-x-with-violeta-ayala-and-alejandra-canales/309250060209371/), Sydney.
- 8 April 2019, [The Early Show, with Iyad el-Baghdadi and Bobi Wine](https://ifex.org/its-amazing-what-can-happen-in-two-days-ifexs-2019-strategy-conference-in-berlin/), IFEX, Berlin.
- 11 March 2018, [Cocaine Prison, screening and talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMvGPTkjbGg), Stockholm.

## Awards

- 2026, [Mozilla Fellow, 2026 to 2027](https://www.mozillafoundation.org/en/meet-mozilla/expert-hub/violeta-michelle-ayala-grageda/), Mozilla Foundation. I'm the first Mozilla Fellow from Bolivia.
- 11 April 2025, [Jury, XR competition](https://newimages-hub.com/en/discover-the-laureates-of-the-8th-edition/), NewImages Festival, Paris.
- 28 March 2025, [Jury, Eurimages Innovation Award](https://cphdox.dk/cphindustry-2025-award-winners-announced/), CPH:DOX, Copenhagen.
- 5 March 2025, Best Interactive Experience, AIDC, Australian International Documentary Conference, Melbourne. For Las Awichas.
- 8 May 2024, [Salzburg Global Fellow](https://www.salzburgglobal.org/multi-year-series/culture/pageId/10962), Creating Futures: Art and AI for Tomorrow's Narratives, Salzburg Global Seminar.
- April 2024, [Best Director, New York Women in Film & Television](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0FqYACnsO8), ReelAbilities Film Festival, New York. For La Lucha. The NYWIFT Award for Excellence in Directing.
- 2023, XR Innovation, XR Brain Jam, Games for Change, New York. For Woven Worlds.
- 2021, Awards for Prison X, 3 honours.
  - Centrepiece, Games for Change, New York
  - Veer Future Award, finalist, Cannes XR, France
  - XR Immersive Arcade, Games for Change, New York
- 4 August 2021, [Honourable mention, Indigenous Futurism Model-Making Competition](https://www.centerforarchitecture.org/digital-exhibitions/article/center-for-architecture-lab-indigenous-scholars-of-architecture-planning-and-design-isapd/indigenous-futurism-model-making-competition-winners/), Indigenous Scholars of Architecture, Planning and Design (ISAPD). For KOA.XYZ.
- 2020, Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I'm the first Quechua member of the Academy.
- 2020, Best Short Film, The Right Cut, Venezuela. For The Fight.
- 2018, Jaime Escalante Medal for Extraordinary Talent in Filmmaking, Embassy of Bolivia, Washington DC.
- 2018, Audience Award, Toulouse Latin America Film Festival, Cinélatino, France. For Cocaine Prison.
- 2018, Awards for The Fight, 4 honours.
  - Best Short Documentary, Sose International Film Festival, Armenia
  - Best Short Documentary, Inclus Film Festival, Spain
  - Best International Short, Overcome Film Festival, Brazil
  - Best Short, Artículo 31 Film Festival, Spain
- 2018, Nominated, Stefan Jarl Award, Tempo Documentary Festival, Sweden. For Cocaine Prison.
- 2017, Best Cinematography, Walkley Awards, Australia. For The Fight.
- 2017, Awards for The Fight, 3 honours.
  - Best Short, International Human Rights Festival, Sucre, Bolivia
  - DW Doc Dispatch Award, Sheffield International Documentary Festival, UK
  - Nominated, Best Short, International Documentary Awards, US
- 2017, Awards for Cocaine Prison, 2 honours.
  - Best of Fest, IDFA, Amsterdam
  - Nominated, Best Documentary Feature, Camden International Film Festival, US
- 2 November 2017, [Finalist, Sony Impact Award for Current Affairs](https://rorypecktrust.org/awards/past-finalists/sony-impact-award-for-current-affairs/), Rory Peck Awards, London. For The Fight.
- 2016, Ibermedia Distribution Award. For The Bolivian Case.
- 2016, Nominated, Premios Platino, Spain. For The Bolivian Case.
- 2015, Awards for The Bolivian Case, 2 honours.
  - Nominated, Premios Fénix, Mexico
  - Audience Award, Sydney Film Festival, Australia
- 2013, Bertha BRITDOC Journalism Award, Good Pitch, New York. For Cocaine Prison.
- 2012, Puma Creative Catalyst Award, BRITDOC Foundation, UK. For The Bolivian Case.
- 2012, Special Award for Excellence, Amazigh International Film Festival, Morocco. For Stolen.
- 2010, Awards for Stolen, 13 honours.
  - Best Feature Documentary, Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles, US
  - Grand Prix, Art of the Document Film Festival, Warsaw, Poland
  - Best Documentary, Anchorage International Film Festival, US
  - Best Film, Festival Internacional de Cine de Cuenca, Ecuador
  - Best Documentary, Africa Film Festival, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
  - Best Film, River's Edge International Film Festival, US
  - Best Editing, Documentary Edge Film Festival, New Zealand
  - Special Jury Mention, Documentary Edge Film Festival, New Zealand
  - Best Feature, Rincón International Film Festival, Puerto Rico
  - Silver Olive, XV International TV Festival Bar, Montenegro
  - Special Mention, Ojai Film Festival, California, US
  - Audience Award, Amnesty International Film Festival, Canada
  - Audience Award, One World Human Rights Film Festival
- 2009, Official Competition, IDFA, Amsterdam. For Stolen.

## Life

- November 2025, [The fight for Comteco](https://unitednotions.film/research/technologies-of-distribution-comteco-transparency), Cochabamba.
- June 2020, Black Lives Matter, Sydney.
- April 2020, Rent strike, Sydney.
- 2019, Vitaliano Grageda Sahonero, 1928 to 2019.
- December 2019, Koala Revolution, Sydney.
- October 2019, Jaguar Revolution, Cochabamba.
- September 2019, Jaguar Revolution, Cochabamba.
- August 2019, Jaguar Revolution, Cochabamba.
- 2016, Suri.
- July 2016, Por la dignidad de las personas con discapacidad, La Paz.
- 2014, Dan.
- 2005, The years in between.
- 1996, Miss Carnaval, dressed as a unicorn.
- 1994, The two chitis.
- 1988, Sucre, and ballet.
- 1986, The year everything changed.
- 1985, A protest in the playground.
- 1983, My grandmother, Herminia Soto.
- 1981, My grandfather teaches me to read.
- 1978, Born in Cochabamba.

## Biography

I'm Violeta Ayala, filmmaker, artist, technologist and AI innovator, and the first Quechua member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. My work moves between cinema, code and resistance. I build worlds where storytelling, technology and Indigenous futurism meet, imagining film as something alive, a system that listens, reacts and evolves. My VR animation Prison X premiered at Sundance and Cannes before travelling through festivals and museums around the world. My documentaries La Lucha, Cocaine Prison, The Fight, The Bolivian Case and Stolen have been broadcast on PBS, Amazon Prime, Netflix and The Guardian, earning more than 50 international awards, including a Walkley.

In 2021 my world KOA.XYZ received an honourable mention in the Indigenous Futurism Model-Making Competition of the Indigenous Scholars of Architecture, Planning and Design. In 2023 La Lucha premiered at BlackStar and SXSW Sydney, and in 2024 it won the NYWIFT Award for Excellence in Directing at the ReelAbilities Film Festival in New York. In 2023 Woven Worlds received the special recognition for XR innovation at the XR Brain Jam of Games for Change in New York. My XR works Las Awichas, Huk the Jaguaress and Woven Worlds have been exhibited in London, New York, Paris, Copenhagen and Guangzhou.

In 2024, at Mila, the Quebec AI Institute, I developed Huk the Jaguaress, a multimodal experience where robotic vision, large language models, sculpture and projection mapping come together in real time. That year I was selected as a Salzburg Global Fellow, for Creating Futures: Art and AI for Tomorrow's Narratives. In 2025 I co-led FAIR FUTURE: Feminist AI at the University of Nottingham, designing workshops and hack jams about collective intelligence and care. I presented Todo Nace Desde Lo Pequeño at Festival Ollantay, at El Martadero in Cochabamba, a live experiment where dancers, generative imagery and spectators co-created the story together.

Right now I'm expanding Huk at Mila and Abundant Intelligences, building a collective intelligence model at the intersection of Indigenous AI, dance, affective computing and ecology. As the first Mozilla Fellow from Bolivia, I'm building an embodied intelligence trained locally, on our own computers and our own energy, for community data sovereignty and Indigenous dance ch'ixied with breaking. I direct sala.red, Red de Información Tecnológica, investigating Bolivia's technological infrastructure, economy, critical minerals, media ownership and Indigenous data rights. I'm the co-founder of United Notions Film.

## Filmography

- La Lucha, documentary, 90 min, 2023. [Watch on sala.video](https://sala.video/film.php?slug=la-lucha) [lalucha.red](https://lalucha.red/) [Watch: La Lucha, trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOwBoWMllWU)
- Prison X, VR interactive and immersive animation, 35 min, 2021. [Watch on Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1502900/Prison__X__Chapter_1_The_Devil_and_The_Sun/) [prisonx.red](https://prisonx.red/)
- Cocaine Prison, documentary, 75 min, 2017. [Watch on sala.video](https://sala.video/film.php?slug=cocaine-prison) [cocaineprison.com](http://cocaineprison.com) [Watch: Cocaine Prison, trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-SblUNLYH0)
- The Fight, documentary, 29 min, 2017. [Watch on The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/may/05/the-fight-disability-rights-protestors-in-bolivia-on-the-barricades) [Watch: The Fight](https://vimeo.com/265528576)
- The Bolivian Case, documentary, 85 min, 2015. [Watch on sala.video](https://sala.video/film.php?slug=the-bolivian-case) [theboliviancase.com](https://theboliviancase.com/) [Watch: The Bolivian Case, trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9jMpIl4zLg)
- Stolen, documentary, 78 min, 2009. [Watch on sala.video](https://sala.video/film.php?slug=stolen) [stolenthedocu.com](http://stolenthedocu.com/) [Watch: Stolen, trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qFwCVBNuvw)

## XR experiences and exhibitions

- Todo Nace Desde Lo Pequeño, live performance with a local AI model, Festival Ollantay, El Martadero, Cochabamba, 2025. [koa.xyz/tao](https://www.koa.xyz/tao)
- Las Awichas, SURREALITY, mixed reality with AI, HKUST, Guangzhou, 2025. [Watch: SURREALITY 1.0, the exhibition film](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCSXbXoK8fg)
- Huk the Jaguaress, Forum des Images, Paris, 2025. [Watch: Huk the Jaguaress, trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9VvFKRuOhs)
- Huk the Jaguaress, CPH:DOX INTER:ACTIVE, Copenhagen, 2025. 
- Huk the Jaguaress, Mila, Quebec AI Institute, Montreal, 2024. 
- Las Awichas, phygital experience, photography, AR and interactive art, the Strand, London, 2024. [Watch: Las Awichas, the film](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maAXs0HzNA8) [King's College London](https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/las-awichas-2024-c-violeta-ayala) [GLOW in Spatial](https://www.spatial.io/s/GLoW-Illuminating-Innovation-65fbbca0d0b7fa3128c0f497)
- Prison X, VR, SXSW Sydney, 2023. [prisonx.red](https://prisonx.red/)
- Woven Worlds, VR, 15 min, Games for Change, New York, 2023. [itch.io](https://leonwang55.itch.io/woven-worlds)
- Las Awichas, AI and post-photography, El Martadero, Cochabamba, 2022. [The exhibition in Spatial](https://www.spatial.io/s/Las-Awichas-2022-6350b9874050e10001cf22d3)
- Prison X, VR, Forum des Images, Paris, 2022. 

## Selected awards

- Best Director, New York Women in Film & Television, La Lucha, 2024
- XR Innovation, XR Brain Jam, Games for Change, Woven Worlds, 2023
- New Frontier, Sundance Film Festival, Prison X, 2021
- Audience Award, Toulouse Latin America Film Festival, Cocaine Prison, 2018
- Best of Fest, IDFA, Cocaine Prison, 2017
- Best Cinematography, Walkley Awards, The Fight, 2017
- DW Doc Dispatch Award, Sheffield DocFest, The Fight, 2017
- Audience Award, Sydney Film Festival, The Bolivian Case, 2015
- Grand Prix, Art of the Document, Warsaw, Stolen, 2010
- Best Feature Documentary, Pan African Film Festival, Stolen, 2010

## Pages that play in the browser

- [Flower Stamps](https://violetaayala.com/play/flower-stamps/)
- [Kaleidoscopic Pens](https://violetaayala.com/play/kaleidoscopic-pens/)
- [Interactive Neon Poem](https://violetaayala.com/play/neon-poem/)
- [Set 3, SXSW Sydney](https://violetaayala.com/play/set-3/)
- [Not here to fuck spiders](https://violetaayala.com/play/spiders/)
- [Thread Fall](https://violetaayala.com/play/thread-fall/)
- [Vizcacha](https://violetaayala.com/play/vizcacha/)
- [Video wall 1](https://violetaayala.com/play/wall-1/)
- [Video wall 2](https://violetaayala.com/play/wall-2/)
- [Video wall 3](https://violetaayala.com/play/wall-3/)
- [Video wall 4](https://violetaayala.com/play/wall-4/)
- [We Play Therefore We Exist](https://violetaayala.com/play/we-play/)

- [The Jaguar Glossary](https://violetaayala.com/glossary/), 386 terms

## Links

- [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/thejaguaress/)
- [X](https://twitter.com/TheJaguaress)
- [GitHub](https://github.com/violetajaguar)
- [Substack](https://violetaayala.substack.com/)
- [IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3460179/)
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violeta_Ayala)
- [United Notions Film](https://unitednotions.film/)
- [koa.xyz](https://www.koa.xyz/)
- [sala.red](https://sala.red/)
- [My videos on sala.red](https://sala.red/videos)
- [The Huffington Post](huffpost/)