Photos: 'Untitled Cabrini' movie films in Buffalo

A Hollywood-style backlot was built off Elk Street in South Buffalo to re-create the impoverished 19th century Five Points neighborhood in lower Manhattan for the "Untitled Cabrini" movie, now being filmed throughout Buffalo. Carpenters spent weeks building the street scenes including an orphanage, hospital, brothel and shanty town. Many local residents – and animals – were cast as extras.

The feature film is about Francesca Cabrini, an Italian immigrant who rose from poverty to become an entrepreneur and helped transform the lives of immigrants around the world. She became a saint in 1946.

Directed by Alejandro Monteverde, the film stars Christiana Dell’Anna, Montserrat Espadalé, Romana Maggiora Vergano, David Morse and John Lithgow. After Buffalo, it concludes filming in Rome, Italy.