An often hilarious documentary about Phillip Rosenthal, creator of the hit TV show "Everybody Loves Raymond" and his calamitous adventures when he goes to Russia to work on their version of the show. Phillip Rosenthal will be in attendance.

When Phil Rosenthal, creator of the hit TV show “Everybody Loves Raymond” was approached to oversee the creation of a Russian version of his show, he was flattered and excited to travel to Russia. But that excitement soon turned to frustration, befuddlement and amusement in this very funny look at his trials and tribulations as a stranger in an even stranger land. With a small film crew in hand, Phil – encouraged by the success of such Russian versions of “The Nanny” and “Married with Children” – heads off to Moscow, despite one Russian questioning if he had K & R (Kidnap & Ransom) insurance. What then unfolds is his hilarious fish out of water journey to a world very different than glitzy and efficient Hollywood. Wanting to recreate the exaggerated realism that made “Raymond” so popular, he begins to work on the pilot episode but is immediately confronted by production people who want to dress the women in the pilot in the trendiest fashions; a team of not very funny writers who constantly change; a grim-faced director; and actors who read their lines more like Chekhov than for a sitcom and that’s really just the beginning! Can the now titled, “Everybody Love Kostya” even get its pilot completed or will the startling cultural differences undermine it all? A fast-moving, original documentary held together by the very witty Phil acting as our wise-cracking narrator who becomes increasingly numbed by the Russian entertainment bureaucracy. Interestingly, most films in our festival celebrate the universality of people from disparate worlds while “Exporting” gleefully illustrates the huge cultural gap that exists between one befuddled American and the inhabitants of a land half a world away. (English, Russian with English subtitles) -- Raymond Murray