Raoul Ruiz, the celebrated, prolific, Chilean-born filmmaker has died. He was 70.

Ruiz, not known for a specific standout film, was rather known for his vast catalog of more than 100 innovative, experimental works, which shirked cinematic conventions in favor of the surreal, the satirical and the strange.

Ruiz died Friday in Paris from complications from a pulmonary infection.

Ruiz had called Paris his home since fleeing Chile to escape the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in 1973. It was there he enjoyed the freedom to indulge his varied, curious cinematic whims. Among his filmography are a number of literary adaptations, including the work of Nathaniel Hawthorne (“Three Lives and Only One Death,” 1996), Franz Kafka (“The Penal Colony,” 1970), Marcel Proust (“Time Regained,” 1999) and Shakespeare (“Richard III,” 1986).

Born July 25, 1941, in Puerto Montt, Chile, Ruiz displayed a talent for writing at an early age. After studying law and theology at the University of Chile, he received a Rockefeller Foundation grant which allowed him to devote his time to writing. He claims he wrote more than 100 plays before he was 20-year-old.

Ruiz is survived by his wife, filmmaker Valeria Sarmiento.