The life of an Italian immigrant who later founded one of the largest charitable organizations in the world will be captured in a film that includes scenes to be shot in Buffalo beginning next month. Hundreds of people are sought to be hired as paid extras.

The film, Cabrini, will be a biopic of Francesca Saviero Cabrini, who was later known as Frances Xavier Cabrini or simply Mother Cabrini. A Catholic nun, she moved to the United States in 1887 at the urging of Pope Leo XIII to assist the Italian immigrant population, many of whom arrived in the country but lived in poverty.