In advance of its premiere April 7 at the Cleveland International Film Festival (and, the next day, North America’s solar eclipse), the filmmakers have shared a trailer for Katie Dellamaggiore’s documentary, Small Town Universe. The documentary explores Green Bank, West Virginia, home to the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope. While the telescope explores the universe for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, the town’s residents communicate in more traditional ways; in order for the telescope to function, wi-fi and cell phones are banned in the town. “Within the telescope’s orbit, Green Bank residents experience defining moments of life and loss and explore their connection to the universe, science, and each other,” writes Dellamaggiore in the film’s press kit.

Cleveland screened Dellamaggiore’s earlier film, Brooklyn Castle, in 2012, but what makes this upcoming screening extra special is the fact that Cleveland is  in the path for the totality of the solar eclipse. The festival is partnering with the Great Lakes Science Center to curate programming for their Total Eclipse Fest and chose Small Town Universe to screen at the science center’s DOME theater immediately following the event.

In 2018, Small Town Universe  received support from the Gotham Film & Media Institute (Filmmaker‘s publisher) and HBO Documentary Films New True Stories Grant.