Award-winning director and writer Jean Beaudin has passed away at the age of 80. The Montreal-born filmmaker died on May 19, according to La Presse.

Beaudin was best known for his directing work on the popular television series Les filles de Caleb, which garnered four million viewers per week when it aired on Radio-Canada in Quebec from 1990 to 1991.

His career began in the 1960s when he joined the National Film Board (NFB), where he directed short and feature films, including Stop and Cher Théo.

Beaudin would go on to co-write and direct J.–A. Martin, photographe, which was selected for the Cannes Film Festival in 1977. It would earn two awards at the festival: the Ecumenical Jury Prize as well as a Best Actress award for star Monique Mercure. Following his success, Beaudin directed a number of features adapted from Quebec writers, including Mario, based on the novel by Claude Jasmin, Le matou, by Yves Beauchemin, and Le collectionneur, by Chrystine Brouillet. His television directing credits include L’or et le papier, Ces enfants d’ailleurs and Willie.

He was given a Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award from the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards in 2017 in recognition of his film and television work.

“A great filmmaker has left us,” tweeted Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism Pablo Rodriguez. “It is with sadness that I learned of the passing of Jean Beaudin, famous film director behind the Les filles de Caleb and many other Quebec classics. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones.”

Image: (L-R) Monique Mercure and Jean Beaudin, courtesy of NFB