CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — The Virginia Film Festival was capped off in October with the sold-out and at times even roucous premiere of “Pep Banned,” a documentary chronicling the rise and fall of the famous, and at times infamous, University of Virginia Pep Band.

Nearly five months later, the documentary will return to the big screen in Charlottesville at the Paramount Theater on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Executive producer and Pep Band alum Ron Culberson, who also serves as the film’s narrator, told Cville Right Now the historic theater approached the makers of “Pep Banned” after the film’s successful premiere, which sold out the Culbreth Theater.

“We were shocked by the response when the film festival tickets went on sale,” he said. “I think they sold out in like 90 minutes, and we were getting emails all day from people who couldn’t even get through to the website.”

Culberson said the team was “delighted” by the premiere’s success and he couldn’t have asked for a better atmosphere.

“People were just having a good time and enjoying the film,” he said. “That’s exactly what I think the goal was of the production team, was to create something that was uplifting, told a good story and kind of countered some of what we’re dealing with in the world these days.”

Now, with the film’s second screening set for this weekend, the production team is looking into how best to handle distributing the film moving forward. Culberson said after engaging with consultants, the team’s primary focus is to get the film fans as possible, primarily within the alumni community.

“We’re working with UVA to try to get it out to the different UVA clubs around the country,” he said, “as well as, we’re going to try to show it at the reunions week this year, and we’re getting a lot of really positive response from that.”

The film is already reaching the Alumni Clubs, with the UVA Club of Charlottesville bringing a contingent to the Paramount on Saturday. Culberson said the hope is other clubs will also structure events for its members around the film.

As for this upcoming screening, Culberson said The Paramount is “perfect” for the film, despite it covering the band’s many controversies.

“I think primarily people remember the band fondly,” he said, “and there’s been a good response. And so, I think it fits nicely.”

Beyond Charlottesville, Culberson says the filmmakers plan to do a showing in Northern Virginia and Norfolk in the future. Culberson said the UVA community will be the primary focus of the film’s in-person screening due to the film’s niche appeal.

“We may at some point submit them to another film festival or two,” he said. “We’re still thinking about that. But ultimately then, we’ll have a streaming option, but we’d like to take care of all the in-person showings or as many as we can before we it up for streaming.”

For now, the film will once again delight Charlottesville moviegoers and UVA fans this weekend, all while keeping the memory and story of the UVA Pep Band alive.

“When I first started talking with a couple of people about this concept of doing the documentary, I said to people, ‘You know, best case scenario, it’s a great movie. Worst case scenario, it’s a piece of memory for people to keep. It’s a tangible history of what we all experienced and it’ll keep it alive,'” Culberson said.