Brazil Bets on High-Production Value True Crime With Prime Video’s Buzzy ‘Tremembé’ About Infamous ‘Prison of Celebrities’

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – One of the most eagerly anticipated series of recent years in Brazil, Prime Video’s “Tremembé” had a buzzy world premiere at a packed screening at the Rio Film Festival on a rainy Wednesday night. The five-episode series, which will drop globally on the major streaming platform on Oct. 31, trails life in the infamous titular prison, which houses some of Brazil’s most well-known criminals. It continues a major international push for the South American country, which took three series to this year’s Berlinale Series and is landing heavily at this year’s Mipcom.

Last year, Prime Video Brazil began dipping its toes on true crime with “The Park Maniac,” about one of the country’s most infamous serial killers. “Tremembé” marks a full steam ahead moment for the streamer’s bet on an authentic Brazilian take on the subgenre. Lauded writer-director Vera Egito (“He, She, They,” “Elis”) signs the artistic direction of the series, which is based on the biographical books by journalist Ulisses Campbell, also one of the series’ writers alongside Egito, Juliana Rosenthal, Thays Berbe and Maria Isabel Iorio. Paranoid produces the series. See an exclusive image below:

The stellar cast gathers high-profile Brazilian talent, led by Brazilian superstar Marina Ruy Barbosa (“Empire”), a popular telenovela staple who has grown into a frequent presence on major international events. “Tremembé” marks her first project after terminating a massive contract with powerhouse Globo that lasted over two decades, starting when she was just eight years old. Here, Barbosa plays Suzane Von Richthofen, convicted for the heavily publicized, brutal murder of her parents.

Speaking with Variety out of the Rio Film Festival premiere, Barbosa says she finds it “wonderful” to have the “opportunity to talk about our Brazilian projects and have this international reach for our national audiovisual sector. I feel a lot of pride at the moment.”

“I was very excited when ‘Tremembé’ became a possibility because it is the type of project that feeds me as an actor, to have this challenge to dive into strangeness,” she adds. After decades working on telenovelas, which are demanding, fast-paced open works, the actor emphasizes how interesting she found it to dedicate herself to a closed work like a series. “It grants you a certain calmness. You have more time to study and prepare, plus a longer period to work with your director, too.”

When asked about the international visibility of working with a streamer like Amazon, the actor recalls being surprised by how many people knew her abroad from telenovelas sold to foreign territories. “I always found it incredible that I could reach someone in India through my novela characters. Now, the impact is much, much bigger. The series will travel internationally, and I think it has a level of quality that will make it appealing abroad. True crime is a popular genre and I think it is an interesting opportunity in terms of digging into the psychological fabric of a character, so I think this is a turning point in my career.”

Julia Priolli, head of scripted for Amazon MGM Studios, Brazil, recognizes the international potential of “Tremembé” but says the content was conceived through a strategy they call “hyperlocal.”

”We wanted the series to work completely inside the country and win national audiences,” she adds. “We believe that, from that home-ground victory, the series can work anywhere. ‘Tremembé’ benefits from the fact that it tells stories very familiar to Brazilian audiences. These stories are deeply ingrained within the national cultural consciousness.” As for premiering the series in Rio in a festival environment, Priolli says it’s a “joy and an honor” as well as part of a strategy the streamer began investing in a few years ago, premiering “Cangaço Novo” in Gramado and “Love is For the Strong” in Rio.

Questioned about the potential of a “Tremembé” franchise, given that the prison houses dozens more infamous criminals. Priolli says they are “very focused” on how the first season performs. “We are so excited about the release and understand that the public reception of the series will allow us to think a little bit more in these terms.”

Fitting so many different notorious characters and stories in five episodes proved “extremely complex” to Egito, who spent two years writing the series alongside her collaborators. She calls the process “very intense” and a “gigantic puzzle to solve.”

“We never took for granted that the audience would be familiar with their stories,” she emphasizes. “These are all convicted criminals, so we are not questioning whether they did it or not. The important thing to us was to show their day-to-day. When you begin zooming into their troubles and loves and lives within the prison, there is a danger that the viewer might forget who these people are, so we wanted to begin with a haunting image of their crimes to then cut to the prison.”

Egito highlights it was “very important” to Amazon and the entire creative team not to “further expose the victims.” “A lot of their family members are still alive today. We created a camera concept where we don’t expose the victims. You don’t see anyone injured. The challenge was to keep the tension of the scene while protecting the victims, and I am incredibly proud to say I think we achieved that.”

On contributing to the outstanding momentum for Brazil’s audiovisual industry, Priolli says the environment in the country is “very fertile” and Prime Video is “seizing it entirely.” “We are very excited about the work we’ve been doing. Brazil is so diverse, and the cultural richness of the country is so unique. ‘Tremembé’ is a very particular series. There is no other prison in the world like it. It could only happen in Brazil.” Egito echoes that thought: “You see the success novelas have reached globally. I want to drink from that popular fountain with a cinematographic look. It seems to me like a recipe for success.”

Barbosa brings up Fernanda Torres and Wagner Moura, who are making history in terms of international projection with Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here” and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent.” “Seeing Fernanda shining abroad and now Wagner following in her footsteps is so beautiful. I think more than ever we need to value and cherish what is ours, so we can show the U.S. and the rest of the world that we, too, can make incredible films and television. It’s incredible to have opportunities abroad, but to be celebrated internationally because of something produced here, in our language, is very powerful.”