Hungarian film critic and theorist Yvette Biro teaches at New York University, and has been a visiting lecturer at both Stanford and Berkeley. Her most recent book is Profane Mythology: The Savage Mind of the Cinema; among her several other books is Miklos Jansco. Founding editor in 1965 of the Hungarian journal, Filmkultura, and chief editor for nine years, she has also collaborated with Miklos Jansco on the screenplays of six of his films.

Winner of the Critic's Prize at the Locarno Festival and the “Camera d'Or” for best first feature at Cannes, Pal Erdoss' The Princess follows the trials of a young woman who, like many others, leaves the provinces to try her luck in Budapest. Working in a textile mill and living in a hostel for girls, young Jutka has it somewhat worse than the others: her foster parents are dead, her attempts to re-connect with her real mother have failed, and her sense of isolation is paramount. When her friend, Zsuzsa, gives birth to an illegitimate child, Jutka agrees to pose as the child's mother, and eventually, happily settles an agreement to adopt. Zsuzsa's change of heart leaves Jutka where she started: alone, among hundreds of women much like herself. The Princess' lively narrative, unfolding against a realistically sketched background, shot in black and white, depicting daily life among young workers, results from director Pal Erdoss' interviewing nearly one hundred women workers from the provinces in the course of researching one of his eight documentaries. One woman's story so captured Erdoss' interest, she became the model for “the Princess.”