Experimental filmmaker Helen Hill died when she and her husband Paul Gailiunas were shot, in a seemingly random attack, in their New Orleans home on Jan. 4. She was 36.

Known for her energy and social activism, the South Carolina native took Canadian citizenship upon moving to Halifax in 1995 with Gailiunas, who was then in med school. Hill became involved in the Atlantic Film Co-op and made films while teaching at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

‘She was a joy to work with,’ says AFC exec director Walter Forsyth.

Her films include Mouseholes (1999), Madam Winger Makes a Film (2002) and Bohemian Town, commissioned by Forsyth and devoted to the artist community of Halifax.

Hill and Gailiunas moved to New Orleans in 2001, left after Hurricane Katrina, and returned in September.

Gailiunas survived the attack. The couple’s two-year-old son Francis was unhurt.