United Notions Film

United Notions Film produces thought provoking films and media.

United Notions Film was established by award-winning filmmakers Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw with the motto of challenging the status quo. They first began working together after travelling to Mauritania in 2005 where they made ‘BETWEEN THE OIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA’, an investigative documentary about international corruption in the oil industry. In 2006, they went to the Sahara desert and shot ‘STOLEN’, a feature film that uncovered racial-based slavery in a UN-monitored refugee camp. The film sparked worldwide controversy when it premiered at the Sydney Film Festival 2009. ‘Stolen’ screened in 80 film festivals including Toronto and IDFA, won sixteen awards and aired on PBS. Questioning the media’s racism in Norway, in 2015 they made ‘THE BOLIVIAN CASE’ that premiered as a Special Presentation at Hot Docs, it was nominated for Premios Platino and Fenix (two of the most prestigious awards in the Spanish speaking world) and distributed by Ibermedia across Latin America to an audience of 625 million. In 2017, they trekked over the Bolivian Andes shooting a protest of people with disabilities and made ‘THE FIGHT’ distributed by The Guardian Shorts, winner of the Doc Dispatch Award at Sheffield Doc Fest, nominee for the IDA Awards, winner of an Australian Walkley Award, Rory Peck Sony Impact Award finalist and Best Short at the International Human Rights Festival in Sucre, Bolivia. Their latest feature ‘COCAINE PRISON’ shot in a Bolivian jail for four years premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2017 to critical acclaim, was the winner of the audience award at Cinelatino in Toulouse 2018. Cocaine Prison will be distributed in cinemas in France, was acquired by Amazon Prime and will go to air on PBS later in the year. United Notions Film is supported by Sundance, Latino Public Broadcasting, Tribeca, Open Society Foundations, MacArthur Foundation, Chicken & Egg, Bertha Doc Society, Puma Britdoc, IDFA Bertha, Fond Sud Cinema, CNC, PBS, Strasbourg Film Fund, Screen NSW, Screen Australia, the Norwegian Film Institute and Señal Colombia among others.

CREATE / INSPIRE / CHANGE

OUR WORK

COCAINE PRISON (2018)

From inside one of Bolivia's infamous jails, Cocaine Prison is a first hand account of the drug trade through the eyes of its foot soldiers: a drug mule, his teenage sister and a cocaine worker.

THE FIGHT (2017)

People with disabilities are among the most discriminated against in Bolivia. Fed up with being ignored, a group of them march across the Andes to speak to President Evo Morales, where they're met with riot police, barricades, teargas and water cannon.

THE BOLIVIAN CASE (2015)

Three Norwegian teenagers are caught smuggling 22 kg cocaine out of Bolivia. Why does only one take the fall? Combining the juiciest elements of reality TV and true-crime pulp fiction, The Bolivian Case is a sensational criminal exposé that sheds light on the increasing malleability of modern crime and punishment.

STOLEN (2009)

Filmmakers Ayala and Fallshaw travel to North Africa intending to make one film only to discover a hidden truth that takes them on a journey they could never have imagined. The film turns into a political thriller when the black Saharawis start talking about a forbidden subject… Their freedom.

BETWEEN THE OIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA (2006)

World renowned maths Professor, Yaya Hamidoune, returns to his home town of Nouakchott, Mauritania to fight against Woodside Petroleum's new offshore oil production and the corruption he sees as destroying West Africa's fisheries.

PRISON X - VR (In dev)

Inspired by one of Bolivia’s infamous jails, Prison X is a collection of interactive and immersive stories. Unfolding in a hand-painted VR environment,
the heavy doors open up and a world of magical realism sucks you in, swirling around you, where people become devils and taunt the new arrivals.

SHOWEKON - 360 Video (In dev)

Set in the heart of the Amazon, Showekon is the story of a jaguaress and her two cubs. Mixing immersive VR cinema and hand painted scenes in the style of children’s storybook, Showekon is the first of a VR series for children about endangered animals of the world.

VIOLETA AYALA
Violeta is a Quechua film director, producer, writer and artist with Bolivian and Australian nationality. She is best known for directing the award winning documentaries Cocaine Prison (2017), The Fight (2017), The Bolivian Case (2015) and Stolen (2009). Her films have premiered at A-List festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival, screening in hundreds of festivals worldwide and distributed The Guardian, PBS, Amazon Prime and others. Violeta's won 45 awards, including a Walkey Award and nominations for the prestigious IDA in Los Angeles and the Rory Peck Sony Impact Award in London. She is currently working on the feature version of The Fight and developing Prison X an immersive and interactive VR experience based on Neo-Andean myths and Showekon, a 360 cinema for children. She has a degree in Journalism from Charles Sturt University in Australia and is part of a prominent blogger series on the Huffington Post. In 2018, Violeta won the Jaime Escalante medal-of-honor for her outstanding talent in filmmaking. Violeta is an alumnus of Film Independent, Berlinale, Hot Docs, IFP New York, Good Pitch NY, IDFA and a Sundance and Tribeca Film Institute Fellow. She is a founding member of United Notions Film.

DAN FALLSHAW

Dan is a Walkley Award winning filmmaker born in Australia, who makes films to shift the balance of power. In 2006, he went to Mauritania and made BETWEEN THE OIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA. In 2009, he co-directed, produced, shot, edited, and sold to PBS the controversial and multi-award winning documentary STOLEN. In 2017, Dan co-directed THE FIGHT published by The Guardian, for which he won a Walkely Award, the film was nominated for the IDA Best Short Documentary Award 2017 and was a Finalist for the Rory Peck Awards. His producing credits also include, The Bolivian Case (2015), that premiered at Hot Docs, screened at 40 international festivals, was broadcast in Colombia and Israel, was nominated for Premios Platino and Premios Fenix and was distributed across Latin America through public TV and COCAINE PRISON (2017) premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, winner of the Audience Award at Cinelatino in Toulouse and was picked up by Amazon Prime. Currently Fallshaw is developing PRISON X a VR immersive story, funded by Tribeca and Screen NSW and the feature version of THE FIGHT. Dan has an honors degree in Communications from the University of Technology, Sydney and Saint Martin’s College in London.

REDELIA SHAW

Redelia is a Producer with over fifteen years of professional experience in commercial, independent television and film projects. She has worked in numerous capacities on projects on network and cable, including Fox, ShowTime, ABC and PBS. In 2013 her film, JOURNEY TO AFRICA; an interactive online documentary was awarded an Artist-in-Residence Fellowship to the Wexner Center and selected to the Film Independent Documentary Lab, where she met filmmakers Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw. Later that year Redelia joined United Notions Film. Her credits as producer include THE BOLIVIAN CASE (2015), COCAINE PRISON (2017), THE FIGHT (In production), WAR (In development) and LIFE CRIME (In production). Redelia is head of the Media Production program at Santa Monica College, where she stimulates creativity, success and inspiration in students to fearlessly tell stories that matter. She holds a BA in Mass Media Arts from Clark Atlanta University and a Masters Degree in Cinema from Georgia State University. She is an alumnus of the Film Independent, the West Coast Regional Director of The National Council of Women in Entertainment and a member of the Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers (BADWest), Urban Mediamakers and Women in Film LA.

THE AWARDS & ACCOLADES WE'VE WON

Audience Award, Toulouse Latin America Film Festival, for COCAINE PRISON, France 2018

Best Short, Articulo 31 Film Festival, for THE FIGHT, Spain 2018

Nominated Stefan Jarl International Documentary Award, Tempo Doc Festival, for COCAINE PRISON, Sweden 2018

Nominated Best Short Documentary, International Documentary Awards, for THE FIGHT, US 2017

Best Cinematography, Walkley Awards, for THE FIGHT, Australia, 2017

Finalist Sony Impact Award for Documentariews, Rory Peck Awards, for THE FIGHT, UK, 2017

Official Selection, Toronto International Fim Festival, for COCAINE PRISON, Canada 2017

Nominated Best Documentary Feature, Camden International Film Festival 2017 for COCAINE PRISON, US

Best of Fest, IDFA 2017, for COCAINE PRISON, Holland

Best Short, International Human Rights Festival in Sucre, for THE FIGHT, Bolivia, 2017

DW Doc Dispatch Award, Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival, for THE FIGHT, UK, 2017

Latino Public Broadcasting (ITVS), Post Production Grant for COCAINE PRISON, US, 2017

Ibermedia Disribution Award, for THE BOLIVIAN CASE, Spain, 2016

Nominated for Premios Platino, for THE BOLIVIAN CASE, Spain, 2016

Nominated for Premios Fenix, for THE BOLIVIAN CASE, Mexico, 2015

Audience Award, Sydney Film Festival, for THE BOLIVIAN CASE, Australia, 2015

Special Presentation, Hot Docs, for THE BOLIVIAN CASE, Canada, 2015

Tribeca New Media Fund,for PRISON X, US, 2015

Sundance Documentary Fund, for COCAINE PRISON, US, 2014

MacArthur Foundation Grant, for COCAINE PRISON, US, 2014

Bertha Britdoc Journalism Award, Good Pitch NY, for COCAINE PRISON, US, 2013

Chicken and Egg, Post Production Grant for COCAINE PRISON, US, 2013.

Fond Sud Cinema, for COCAINE PRISON, France, 2011

Tribeca Latin America Media Arts Fund, for COCAINE PRISON, US, 2011

IDFA Bertha Fund, for COCAINE PRISON, The Netherlands, 2010

Puma Creative Catalyst Award, Britdoc Foundation, for THE BOLIVIAN CASE, UK, 2012

Official Selection, Toronto International Fim Festival, for STOLEN, Canada 2009

Official Competition 2009, IDFA, for STOLEN, Canada 2009

Best Feature Documentary, Pan African Film Festival, for STOLEN, LA, US, 2010

Grand Prix, Art of the Document Film Festival, for STOLEN, Warsaw, Poland, 2010

Best Documentary, Anchorage International Film Festival, for STOLEN, US, 2010

Best Film, Festival Internacional de Cine de Cuenca, for STOLEN, Ecuador, 2010

Best Documentary, Africa Film Festival, for STOLEN, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, 2010

Best Film, Riverʼs Edge International Film Festival, for STOLEN, US, 2010

Best Editing, Documentary Edge Film Festival, for STOLEN, NZ, 2010

Special Jury Mention, Documentary Edge Film Festival, for STOLEN, NZ, 2010

Best Feature, Rincon International Film Festival, for STOLEN, Puerto Rico, 2010

Silver Olive, XV International TV Festival Bar, for STOLEN, Montenegro, 2010

Special Mention, Ojai Film Festival, for STOLEN, California, US, 2010

Audience Award, Amnesty International Film Festival, for STOLEN, Canada, 2010

Audience Award, One World Human Right Film Festival, for STOLEN, 2010

Special Award for Excellence, Amazigh International Film Festival, for STOLEN, Morocco, 2012