Turan Film Academy Senior Lecturer Conducts Research in Cinema, Media, and Communications in the United States

Dias Azimzhanov, Senior Lecturer at the Turan Film Academy GS, Film Director and PhD candidate, is currently conducting a research fellowship at George Washington University (Washington, DC). The program advances his doctoral dissertation research in cinema, media, and communications, and represents a key component of the Academy’s broader commitment to international academic collaboration.

The research is conducted under the supervision of Professor Peter Rollberg, a distinguished scholar in film studies, media, and international relations, together with Associate Professor and researcher in the field of media, Karlyga Mysaeva. Primary source work is carried out at the university’s Gelman Library and through the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC), a network of major academic libraries across the greater Washington metropolitan area offering extensive access to scholarly, archival, and audiovisual collections. Additional research is conducted at the Library of Congress, one of the world’s foremost repositories of documentary, archival, and audiovisual materials.

The dissertation examines how audiovisual works reflect, shape, and preserve the collective and sociocultural memory of societies, with a particular focus on the comparative study of cinema and media systems as instruments for representing historical experience and social transformation. The fellowship also provides opportunities to engage with leading scholars across disciplines through academic seminars and research colloquia, fostering dialogue around current methodological developments in film studies and memory studies.

This experience contributes not only to Azimzhanov’s scholarly development, but also to the advancement of humanities and media research within the local academic community.

We congratulate Dias Azimzhanov on this achievement and wish him continued success in his research.