“I Am Still Here” star Maeve Jinkings to lead ‘Cabildo 71’ women’s convent-prison escape drama (exclusive)

Brazilian actress Maeve Jinkings, best known for her central role in Walter Salles’ Oscar-winning film “I’m Still Here,” has been selected to lead the cast of “Cabildo 71,” an upcoming drama about an escape from a convent-prison, chosen to take part in the Proyecta co-production forum in Ventana Sur. Jinkings is also widely recognized for her roles in “The Secret Agent,” directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho.

Argentina's Una Presencia and Vitrine Filmes, based in Brazil and Spain, have optioned the drama based on real events, which will participate in the Proyecta 2026 co-production association in Ventana Sur.

Brazilian Maeve Jinkings, best known for her starring role in Walter Salz's Oscar-winning film I'm Still Here, leads the cast of the upcoming prison escape drama Cabildo 71, which has been selected to participate in the Proyecta Ventana Sur co-production.

Jenkings is also best known for her roles in the acclaimed dramas "Neighborhood Voices" and "Secret Agent" director Kleber Mendonza Filho's "Aquarius." RELATED STORIES 'Intimacy coordinators don't get enough credit,' says Cynthia Erivo: 'They're often given a hard time' but 'what they do is important' SNL U.K. Cynthia Erivo selects Danny Dyer and James Norton as the next presenters

Una Presencia (Argentina) and Vitrine Filmes (Brazil/Spain) act as co-producers of this project, which is supported by the Minority Fund INCAA Argentina and the Bilateral Minority Fund Ancine-ACAU. They join lead producer Monarca Films of Uruguay and co-producer Boulevard Filmes of Brazil. Popular in Variety

Written and directed by Victoria "Pitoca" Peña, whose debut film, Delia, won the Silver Award for Best Director at the Malaga Film Festival, "Cabildo 71" is based on real-life events about women imprisoned in the Cabildo. The prison's convent is run by the Good Shepherd nuns, which include Lucia Topolanski, who later became Uruguay's vice president and wife of a former president. José "Pepe" Mujica became her twin sister Elia Topolansky and other women who became prominent figures in Uruguayan political and social life.

The story follows Laparda, who joins forces with 12 political prisoners to form a women's choir and use it as a cover to escape from the convent of the Cabildo prison. During Mass on March 8, 1970, they rush down the aisle of the chapel and escape right under the noses of the nuns guarding them.

A year later, Laparda is recaptured. This time there are no nuns - just the police and a growing number of prisoners, including his sister, Lucia. The two hardly talk, but Laparda senses that Lucia is hiding something.

Behind the prison walls, a daring plan is taking shape: the largest women's prison break in history.

"I am interested in telling this story from an intimate and personal point of view, preferring this dimension to the heroic narrative of this masterpiece. Without diminishing what has been achieved - quite the opposite - I want to address the issues that have shaped the lives of prisoners in the intimacy of prison: the differences between them that give substance to their experience" in order to find a personal need in order to find a need for personal identity. penna

Monarca's Eugenia Olascoaga said, "We want to portray female characters in their social classes and lifestyles, not in the stereotype of 'guerilla women' that the public imagination tends to." Eight Uruguayan actresses were confirmed to play Topamara - it was very important to us that they were all Uruguayan, as a political and artistic choice.

He added that the actors who play the Topolansky sisters are Graciela Ingold and Karolina Janoni, and the rest of the cast are Camilla Parard, Renata Denoy, Luche Bolton and Mathilde Colache. Jinqing plays one of the nuns of the prison-convent.

Ventana Sur takes place in Montevideo, Uruguay from November 30th to December 4th.