Maeve Jinkings has not been away from the big screen for nearly as long as it might seem. The Brazilian actress last appeared in the acclaimed film I’m Still Here, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2024. With less than two years separating that release from her next project, Jinkings is ready to trade one gripping story for another.

Now, Jinkings is returning with Cabildo 71, a high-stakes escape drama that promises danger, daring plans, and a fight for freedom.

Maeve Jinkings is stepping into a historical escape story where even the convent walls cannot keep trouble out. According to Variety, the Brazilian actress will appear in Cabildo 71, an upcoming prison-escape drama directed by Victoria Pena Echeverría. The project has also earned a place at Ventana Sur’s Proyecta Co-Production Forum in Montevideo, Uruguay, putting this daring story on the industry’s radar.

Set in 1970s Uruguay, Cabildo 71 draws inspiration from a remarkable real-life prison break. The story follows a political prisoner known as La Parda, who escapes from the Cabildo convent-prison with 12 fellow inmates during Mass in March 1970. After her recapture a year later, she returns to a heavily fortified prison, where another daring escape is secretly taking shape.

Jinkings will take on a different position in this tense battle for freedom, portraying one of the nuns guarding the convent-prison. Variety reported that the production is led by Monarca Film’s Eugenia Olascuaga, with a deliberate commitment to casting Uruguayan actresses as the eight central Tupamara prisoners. The ensemble includes Graciela Ingold, Carolina Genoni, Camila Parard, Renata Denevi, Luche Bolten, and Matilde Colacce.

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At a time when Hollywood continues to let women like Emilia Clarke down, Cabildo 71 wants to move beyond the picture-perfect guerrilla heroine and explore the complicated women behind the revolution

Cinema often struggles to imagine women fighters beyond a few familiar roles: the seductive assassin who weaponizes her beauty, the hardened soldier who suppresses every trace of vulnerability, or the political martyr whose entire identity revolves around the cause. Characters such as Ilsa Faust in Mission: Impossible illustrate how female action figures can be defined by glamour and deadly competence, leaving little room for ordinary human contradictions.

Cabildo 71 takes a different path by placing its female prisoners’ messy relationships and everyday ingenuity alongside their political struggle. Director Victoria Pena Echeverría explores the strained relationship between La Parda and her twin sister, Lucia, while the real-life escape offers a striking alternative to brute-force heroics: in March 1970, La Parda and 12 fellow prisoners reportedly formed a choir to escape during Mass. Their story allows Cabildo 71 to challenge the flawless guerrilla heroine stereotype without pretending that resistance leaves no room for human weakness.

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