At almost age 30, Hélène Nicolas can’t speak or hold a pen, and she never learned to read or write. It wasn’t until she was 20 years old that her mother Véronique discovered Hélène was able to communicate by arranging laminated letters on a board. Taking the pen name Babouillec Sp, this severely autistic young woman began producing poetry and novels, and is now collaborating with a theatre director to adapt her work for the stage. Her writing is marked by a visionary sense of space and time that is both symbolic and metaphoric, as well as wicked sense of humour. As she stresses, she is part of “A miscalibrated batch that fits nowhere.”

Director Julie Bertuccelli followed this remarkable young woman for two years, with the intent to induce curiosity and understanding. Her film captures Hélène’s spiritual connection, in constant communication with the cosmos at large, offering an almost telepathic sense of other realities, other worlds. Latest News from the Cosmos is more than a portrait of a singular artist, it is also a path towards a genuine encounter, and a demonstration that autism needn’t mean confinement or disability. Rather, it has the potential to offer a new and profound connection with the mysteries of the universe. -TG