Eszter Zimanyi, Ph.D.

Eszter Zimanyi is an interdisciplinary scholar of film and media specializing in migration and refugee studies, global media cultures, and documentary.

Eszter's work on topics such as refugee selfies, humanitarian immersive media, migrant documentaries, and anti-migrant propaganda is published in Journal of Cinema and Media Studies (JCMS), Feminist Media Studies, Transnational Cinemas, and Visual Anthropology, among other venues. Her first book manuscript, tentatively titled Unsettled Media: Documenting Refugees Along the Balkan Route, examines contemporary nonfiction media about Europe’s so-called “migrant crisis” to demonstrate how multiple migrant/refugee communities, government institutions, journalists, artists, and activists use media to unsettle post-Cold War Europe’s material and conceptual borders.

She is also active as a film programmer and curator and most recently curated Discarded Visions, a virtual exhibit accompanying the Fall 2022 issue of Spectator.