Producer and former head of l’Institut national de l’image et du son, Louise Spickler, died from cancer on March 7 in Montreal. She was 53.

A graduate of l’Université du Québec à Montréal, Spickler worked as a film and TV producer, director and writer, heading series including Les Enfants de la television (1985), one of the first Canadian shows for tweens.

Spickler also worked closely with INIS – offering intimate classes for aspiring French filmmakers and audiovisual artists – and became the Montreal school’s first executive director in 1994. She received the Beaumarchais medal from la Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques de France in 2002 for her contributions to French-language culture.