Prime Video, RTP Take Portuguese Rights to ‘Gisberta,’ Leonel Vieira’s True-Crime Docuseries

Prime Video and Portuguse public broadcaster RTP have acquired Portuguese rights to “Gisberta – Life and Death of a Trans Woman,” a four-part true-crime docuseries from Leonel Vieira, the director-producer behind box office hit “O Pátio das Cantigas” and HBO Max thriller “O Grito.”

The four 45-minute episodes are in post-production at Lisbon-based Volf Entertainment, which is producing with Brazil’s Ultravioleta. Prime Video has SVOD rights in Portugal; RTP holds free-to-air and AVOD rights.

Brazilian filmmaker Rodrigo Rebouças (“Meninos ao Mar”) created the project and co-directs with Vieira, who also serves as showrunner.

“Gisberta” revisits the 2006 murder of Gisberta Salce Júnior, a Brazilian transgender woman killed in Porto after being tortured by 14 minors from the Catholic-run Oficina de São José. The teenagers were acquitted of homicide, although some received lesser penalties or educational measures. The case sparked outrage in Portugal and Brazil.

Drawing on archive footage, court records, Gisberta’s letters, interviews and dramatized reconstructions, the series traces her life from Brazil to Europe, the killing and its judicial aftermath. It also examines allegations of sexual abuse and mistreatment of children at the institution, which closed in 2010. Interviewees include relatives, friends, lawyers, journalists and people connected to the case.

The project was presented at Conecta Fiction & Entertainment in Toledo in 2024, where it won two awards: Acorde music-licensing support and an invitation to Chile’s Sanfic Industria Series Lab and pitching sessions.

“The Conecta awards gave the project a good boost: they were the springboard for us to pitch it to Amazon Prime,” Vieira told Variety. “With most of the financing secured between Amazon and the Portuguese cash rebate, we then approached the public broadcaster RTP, which also decided to come on board.”

Vieira is also looking to French distributor About Premium Content (APC), involved in financing the project during development, for international sales.

“APC is an excellent international distributor for this project, and we’re confident they will do a great job with it,” he said.

Founded in 2022 and backed by an investment fund managed by Quadrantis Capital, Volf has built its slate around Vieira’s extensive film and television career. “Gisberta” marks the company’s first move into true crime.

“Yes, it is Volf’s first true-crime series and, I believe, the first to be produced for a streaming platform in Portugal,” Vieira said. “We hope it does well, because we have another powerful story that we could also tell.”

Volf’s credits also span the Spain-Portugal thriller “Favàritx,” released on Max and RTP. Vieira is in post-production on “A Noite” (“The Night”), his José Saramago adaptation co-produced with Spain’s Spal Films and starring Nuno Lopes, Adriano Luz and Enrique Arce.