Pal Erdoss, 60; film director from Hungary, 1983 winner at Cannes

Pal Erdoss, 60, a Hungarian film director whose debut “The Princess” won the Golden Camera award for the best first movie at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival, died Wednesday in Budapest after a brief illness, said his daughter, Eszter. No other details were provided.

“The Princess,” which chronicled the travails of a teenage girl from the countryside who comes to Budapest to work at a textile mill, was well received by critics.

His last film, “Lads of Budakeszi,” about a young boy’s experiences during the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, was screened at the 38th Hungarian Film Week in Budapest, which ended last week.

Born in Budapest in 1947, Erdoss began his career in 1965 at Hungarian State Television as a location manager and assistant director. Among his other features were “Countdown” (1983), “Tolerance” (1986), “A Light-Sensitive Story” (1993) and “Last Seen Wearing A Blue Skirt” (1997).

“When I start making a film, I’m particularly interested in special problems in Hungary, problems of today,” Erdoss said in a 1987 interview with The Times.” “I’m interested in any story where I can take the side of the loser. But I discover eventually that problems are pretty much the same everywhere, globally.”