Opening
Vienna Ethnographic Film Days 
Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Ethnography on Violence, Gender, Sexuality and Justice 
Webster University Vienna 
Thursday, November 19, 2026, 7 pm

The Opening Days of the new Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Ethnography on Violence, Gender, Sexuality and Justice bring together ethnographic film, keynote lectures, multimodal methodologies, artistic interventions and public conversations. The programme includes the Travelling GIEFF – Vienna Ethnographic Film Days, a parallel Multimodal Appreciation workshop, and a closing afternoon at Kunsthalle Exnergasse that brings filmmakers, artists, anthropologists and visitors into conversation around gender, violence, sexuality and justice. 

Opening event: free entrance 

5 pm Welcome 
Samuel Schubert, Judith Albrecht Webster University 

5.30 to 6.30 pm Keynote: Ethnography, Gender and Violence
Maka Suarez, University of Oslo, Norway 

6.40 to 8 pm Food and Drinks

8 pm Opening of the Vienna Ethnographic Film Days

8.15 pm HIGHWAY NOMADS — Mexico, 2023, 84 min — Alberto Arnaut Estrada 
Language: Spanish with English subtitles 

HIGHWAY NOMADS 

The film offers an intimate, ground-level portrayal of the rarely visible social world of truck drivers in Mexico. At the centre is Luz de Luna, whose trajectory—from escaping domestic abuse to becoming a truck driver—provides a powerful entry point into questions of gender, labour exploitation and violence. Conversations and interactions along the road reveal the drivers’ challenges, joys and hopes, while Luz de Luna’s story gives insight into female strategies for survival and for finding one’s own place and identity within a male-dominated sphere.