'Cabrini' premieres in Buffalo days before official release

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The movie "Cabrini" made it's first debut in Buffalo on Tuesday night at the North Park Theatre on Hertel Avenue, as part of a special premiere for the Buffalo cast and crew members.

The film, which explores the first American Saint, Frances Xavier Cabrini and her journey to build an "empire of hope," originally began production back in 2021 and was mostly filmed in the Buffalo area.

Local casting director Frank Rossi explained why this film is an incredible piece and project for the Buffalo community to be able to work on.

"What we did here was we used the Italian community to come together," said Rossi when asked about the process finding potential cast members. "I had people helping me get on the TV. On TV, we literally were able to get it out there. 'Tommy' Bauerle from his radio show got us a couple-thousand people."

"It was the biggest movie ever cast here, as far as using local talent, almost exceeding 3,300 vouchers that actually went out. That's what you saw up on that screen. We're very proud of that."

Generator operator Anthony Pacella was also in attendance for the premiere, and described it as an exciting moment to see all of his hard work finally pieced together for the world to see.

When asked what it was like to work on Cabrini, Pacella shared it was an amazing experience, but there was some obstacles along the way.

"It was also during a time period that COVID was going on, so there was some instances where people got COVID, and that became a complexity," Pacella stated in an interview with WBEN. "Each day you have your fingers crossed when you're shooting that your crew stays healthy so you can get the job done."

The official release date for Cabrini is this Friday, March 8.