Maeve Jinkings to Lead Prison-Convent Escape Drama Cabildo 71

Maeve Jinkings will lead Cabildo 71, a historical escape drama set inside a prison run as a convent.

The film tells the story of women held in Cabildo, a prison-convent run by the nuns of the Good Shepherd. It is based on real-life events. The project has been selected for Ventana Sur’s Proyecta Co-Production Forum, Variety reported.

Jinkings plays one of the nuns. Graciela Ingold and Carolina Genoni play the Topolansky sisters, including Lucia Topolansky, who was among those imprisoned in Cabildo. Casting puts the guards and the guarded at the centre of the same story.

The film is written and directed by Victoria “Pitoka” Pena. Monarca Films of Uruguay is the lead producer, with Boulevard Filmes of Brazil as co-producer. Una Presencia of Argentina and Vitrine Filmes of Brazil/Spain have also joined as co-producers.

Financing already includes two state-backed sources. The film has support from Argentina’s INCAA minority fund and the Ancine-ACAU bilateral minority fund, funds that back films made mainly outside the funding country. That structure fits a shoot spread across borders.

Proyecta is a marketplace where unfinished films pitch for partners and finance. It is open to fiction and non-fiction projects from Latin America and Europe from directors making a first or second feature. The twelve selected projects will be presented to producers, sales agents, international funds and festival programmers, according to Ventana Sur.

Ventana Sur takes place in Montevideo, Uruguay, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4. For Cabildo 71, the slot is a shop window. A strong forum can lock sales, pre-sales and festival interest long before cameras roll.

The film is listed as a 110-minute fiction feature historical drama in development, according to Monarca Films. Principal photography is slated for September to November 2027. The shoot is set. The team now goes looking for the final pieces.