Prof Yvette Biro a Hungarian by birth, a New Yorker by Profession and a resident of Paris, is not only a multi-mega city dweller but a multi-faceted versatile all-rounder with numerous distinctions in Films, Screen writing and Essay's.

In her native country, Yvette has worked with the noted, prize winning Hungarian directors: Zoltan Fabri ( Twenty Hours , Grand Prix at the Moscow International Festival, Late Season , Venice Film Festival), with Karoly Makk and Marta Meszaros, and with Miklos Jancso, on a series of films, including Winter Wind , Confrontation, Agnus Dei, Red Psalm (Grand Prix du Jury, Cannes). She was the founder and Editor in Chief of Filmkultura , the journal of the democratic opposition and also Vice-President of the FIPRESCI 1970-1977.

Her German-French Execution For Four Voices won the Public's Prize at the Berlin Film Festival, (1984) and her Arrivals And Departures won a European Script Fund Award (1991).

Her last two screenplays: The Stone Raft , (2002) based on the novel by Nobel Prize Laureat Jose Saramago, (Portuguese-Spanish co-production) and Twist With Destiny (2003) (Indian-French co-production) have participated in more than a dozen of International Festivals, won prizes in Amsterdam, (Best Film of the Year) Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, etc. Her recent screenplay, Delta , a Hungarian-German-French co-production is in the pre-production stage.

Her books include: The Metamorphosis of the Image - to dress nude exercises in imagination; Festina Lente - Hurry Up Slowly; The Seventh Art - the language of film and the dramatic structure of film, The Order of Disorder ; Profane Mythology and Jancso. Her recent book, Turbulence and Flow in Film narrates her tryst with time management in filmdom by Indiana University Press. Her books and essays have been translated into more than ten languages.

As a Visiting Professor she has taught at the Universities of Budapest, Paris , Jerusalem , Berkeley and Stanford University . She regularly holds workshops on screenwriting in the US and Canada , in Europe, from Istanbul to Paris , Rome , Zagreb , Prague , Montpellier , Sarajevo , Jyvaskala, etc. She has also been invited in Africa by the African Screen Development Fund, and has made a presence felt in Asian countries like Tokyo , Hong Kong and India .

After 20 years of exile, Yvette received the Hungarian Bela Balazs Prize for Life Achievement.

Tisch School of Arts , New York University

The Tisch School of the Arts at New York University was founded in 1965 to provide rigorous conservatory training in theatre and film in the context of a great research university. The School quickly established itself as one of the leading arts schools in the country, creating additional departments of dance, theatre design and lighting, and cinema studies within a few short years. In 1982 a gift from Laurence A. and Preston Robert Tisch made possible the acquisition and renovation of 721 Broadway, where most of the School's programs are currently housed; in recognition of the Tisches' generosity, the School was renamed the Tisch School of the Arts. Today, the Tisch School of the Arts enrolls 3200 students in 14 programs and departments, offering BFA, MFA , MA , MPS and PhD degrees through three major institutes: the Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television , the Skirball Center for New Media , and the Institute of Performing Arts .

Talk - "Festina Lente " - Hurry Up Slowly by Prof. Yvette Biro
Date - 11 th February and 17 th February 2006
Venue - India Habitat Center , New Delhi and Nehru Centre, Mumbai

At India Habitat Center , New Delhi and The Nehru Centre, Mumbai Prof. Yvette Biro , celebrated Essayist, Scriptwriter, Author, and Professor of Film at Tisch School of Arts, New York University, enlightened the audience with her lecture "Festina Lente " - Hurry-up Slowly". People from different walks were present in the event to get their imagination sparked as Biro explored the concept of Time in Filmmaking.

She started with the paradox in the title of her lecture "Hurry-up Slowly." Biro bifurcated time into two as physical time and human time. She said that it is human time that is very important on celluloid. She emphasized on the importance of hesitation in filmmaking and said hesitation teaches to respect others opinions, ways, methods, cultures and ideology. She was of the opinion that socio-cultural diversity fuels the minds of creative people, which can only come when one respects the otherness. The respect for otherness and diversity is more than just important for the contemporary world.

She said time is layered and events don't occur in a flash or on a single plain. Rather there is an intricate mosaic of events on every layer of the time. By physical time she meant that even a small event can leave an impression on human scale to remember and could be put on a canvas and developed to a story to be presented as a award winning show, where as even long event, could just pass by and never get noticed or even produced for that sake.

She also spoke on Difference of Opinion and said that there is nothing like absolute truth or absolute false in real life or even filmdom. It is the mind, which has to travel in time, be it past or present or future and then create a caricature to fit in a script, which could eventually be shot.

She also invited comments and questions. In one of the responses she said that though it's tough to take criticism positively but one must take time to find the speck of truth in the criticism. Slow response to criticism is good whereas fast corrective measures are also essential.

Commenting on the comparison of films of yesteryears and today in terms of effective communication she said that there may be technological advances and more information available with us but in terms of effective communication there is hardly any change. There were good and bad films in the past and there are both at present as well.