To the White Sea

We’re putting on a play! We are excited to announce that To the White Sea is directing a performance of the Ethan Coen one-act Waiting at SPRING/BREAK Art Show. Starring Max Isaacs, Sam Geller, and Lee Pender.The show premieres September 23 and runs through September 28. Tickets are available here.The play will be performed at the former 60 Minutes offices in the middle of our favorite art show featuring the work of over 300 artists.Finally… we announce a major paradigm shift in TTWS merch: our new tour-de-force baseball hats.

Today we’re joined by visionary filmmaker Pete Ohs, director of Erupcja, Jethica, and The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick. We kick things off talking about script doctoring, first-time actors, and Pete’s process of “living the story” through which he's able to write, shoot, and direct feature films in remarkably quick, concentrated productions. As you might expect, collaboration and trust are the key ingredients.From there we dive into the prism, SHOOT THE DRIVER, which is all about Coens characters making chaotic and surprising choices that are so shocking and anti-authority that they leave the audience almost dumbfounded. "Why would they do that???" is the question we keep coming back to, and the answers bear fascinating fruit. You're gonna dig this one; it's a classic episode!Thanks again to Pete for joining us! Thanks also in advance if you can make it to Jordan's screening of his short film BAD VIBES at Low Cinema on September 5th, 2026. Please RSVP and reserve a spot if you know you can make it, and spread the word!Coens covered: A Serious Man, Barton Fink, Burn After Reading, Honey Don‘t!Plus: Obex (dir: Albert Birney)Jethica on MUBIErupjca on Apple TVWant to join the study group? Follow us on social media, tell your friends about the show, and leave a rating/review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. These all really help. And join the Discord too! **You can also support us directly at https://ko-fi.com/tothewhitesea** For all things TTWS visit tothewhitesea.me

This Memorial Day weekend we are celebrating the life of Ray’s mom, filmmaker Mary Cybulski. We start by discussing a retrospective of Mary’s experimental short films, co-directed with John Tintori, which will screen this Sunday at the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center. We then hear from two of Mary’s longtime collaborators, Tony Gilroy and John Sayles. Ray also discusses his mom’s career in a film-by-film “lightning round” inspired by (the God) LexG. Finally we end on an excerpt from a conversation between Mary and Mark Ruffalo about point of view, performance, and family.The Short Films of Mary Cybulski & John Tintori Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln CenterSunday May 24, 11am

Today we’re keeping it light, mostly with scenes of horrific violence, all of which evoke a paradoxical sensation, a strange weightlessness like you feel at the top of a rollercoaster. This is THE LIGHT TOUCH. Think Wade Gustafson’s jacket expelling feathers in Fargo, or Moon’s God-fearing monologue in True Grit. We conclude with a deep dive into the ending of Raising Arizona, which is perhaps the ultimate manifestation of a lightness that’s unreliable yet unshakeable. We also discuss the multitude of Lump-like characters in the Coens ouvre, and follow up on our Point of View episode with some rad listener contributions from the Discord!Coens covered: Fargo, The Man Who Wasn’t There, The Ladykillers, True Grit, Raising ArizonaPlus: Night of the HunterWant to join the study group? Follow us on social media, tell your friends about the show, and leave a rating/review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. These all really help. And join the Discord too! **You can also support us directly at https://ko-fi.com/tothewhitesea**  For all things TTWS visit tothewhitesea.me

It’s movie night in New York City! Join us for some roving recording as we pound the cobblestones of Manhattan and take in two films in vastly different formats: Robert Altman’s Short Cuts in glorious 35mm and Sam Raimi’s Send Help in sensuous 4DX.Along the way we discuss Raymond Carver’s short stories, Altman’s influence on hyperlink cinema, Cast Away as an archetype of 21st century filmmaking, and why Raimi is the king of disgusting CG animals.Want to join the study group? Follow TTWS on social media, tell your friends to listen, and leave a rating & review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. These all really help the show. And join the Discord too!You can also support TTWS directly at https://ko-fi.com/tothewhiteseaFor all things TTWS visit tothewhitesea.me

You are about to listen to a mega episode. Charged up and sans guest, we dive deep into a core facet of moviemaking and film-viewing: point of view—the power of films to invisibly place you behind the eyes, and inside the mind, of a specific character. Jumping off from two dynamite script pages, and pulling crucial info from our film studies education, we explore how subjectivity is essentially inescapable as soon as a camera angle is chosen. We also turn our attention to what “objectivity” could possibly mean in a cinematic context, what happens when multiple POV characters collide, and whether we may have found the most perfect pair of socks for a cold weather film set.Coens covered: Barton Fink, Touileries (from Paris, je t'aime), Fargo, A Serious Man, True Grit, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail, Caesar!, The Gal Who Got Rattled (from Buster Scruggs)Plus: Frankenstein (2025), AmélieWant to join the study group? Follow us on social media, tell your friends about the show, and leave a rating/review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. These all really help. And join the Discord too!**You can also support us directly at https://ko-fi.com/tothewhitesea**For all things TTWS visit tothewhitesea.me

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good commentary! That’s right—to celebrate the holiday season and ring in the new year we’re watching Terry Zwigoff’s 2003 holiday classic Bad Santa. We’re joined by our dear friends Jason Adam Katzenstein, New Yorker cartoonist and co-author with Roz Chast of the forthcoming graphic novel The Two Saddest Kitchens, and Michael Tyburski, director of Palimpsest, The Sound of Silence, and Turn Me On.Together we discuss Bad Santa as a seasonally perfect encapsulation of the lows of Christmastime in America, and the Coens’ role in the film’s development from initial idea to the various edits of the film that have been released over the years. (Note: we’re watching the unrated version, aka Badder Santer.) We also open advent calendars and talk the malls of our youth.Please enjoy this cozy episode and have a wonderful holiday. Sending immense gratitude to everyone out there who has joined us on this journey “to the white sea.” We'll see you again in 2026!Want to join the study group? Follow us on social media, tell your friends about the show, and leave a rating/review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. These all really help. And join the Discord too!**You can also support us directly at https://ko-fi.com/tothewhitesea**For all things TTWS visit tothewhitesea.me

We’re back with a positively joyful episode about white-knuckling it through life :) These are scenes where characters are undercover, pretending to be different than they are, or otherwise just trying to act normal while being observed and under significant stress. Yikes! To help light a path through this nine-eyed, five-0 vision quest we’re joined by writer, actor, comedian, and podcaster Rebecca Rose Bulnes! This is a free-ranging conversation with all the trimmings, so put your shades on and tuck in.Coens Covered: Burn After Reading, Blood Simple, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, Hail, Caesar!Plus: The Beekeeper, Weapons, The Wolf of Wall Street, Spike Lee’s “vitaminwater: From New York”Check out Rebecca’s podcast Classroom Crush!Want to join the study group? Follow us on social media, tell your friends about the show, and leave a rating/review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. These all really help.**You can also support the show directly at https://ko-fi.com/tothewhitesea** And join the Discord too! For all things TTWS visit tothewhitesea.me

In this extra special live event To the White Sea makes study group history as we explore deep secrets, hidden connections, and cinematic revelation in the work of the Coen brothers. In our quest for the truth we're joined onstage by Connoisseur of Context Griffin Newman, longtime Coens collaborator Skip Lievsay, and script supervisor of The Ladykillers Joni Tefoya (Heidi Gardner). Legendary storyboard artist J. Todd Anderson also joins us via video essay for an incredible look at shots that recur across the Coens’ filmography. Thank you LIFE WORLD and everyone for coming out!Producer: Michael TyburskiGraphic Designer and Live Visuals: Jason KatzensteinAudio Technician: Alex BlissAudio Equipment: Caley Monahon-WardLife World Staff: Sarah Wilson, Ian FariaCatalog of Coens - Video Link

Boo! In this special episode we announce our live show COENS SECRETS UNLOCKED and unveil our new miniseries exploring the stage play work of the Coens. We kick off COENS THEATER VOL. I with the radio play SAWBONES, which debuted in April 2005 as part of Carter Burwell’s Theater of the New Ear. Sawbones is a thrilling and bewildering triptych, simultaneously a 60s western TV show, a suburban melodrama, and a fire tower natural disaster thriller. Join us as we unpack a lost work of the Coens and Burwell at their most symphonic and triple-braided. And we’ll see you all soon at LIFE WORLD!COENS SECRETS UNLOCKED - Get Your Tickets Now!Coens Covered: Sawbones, The Big Lebowski, Blood SimplePlus: K-CoreaINC.K (section a) (Dir: Ryan Trecartin)Theater of the New Ear - April 2005 performance at St. Ann’s Warehouse, broadcast later on SiriusXM.Theater of the New Ear on CarterBurwell.comWant to join the study group? Follow us on social media, tell your friends about the show, and leave a rating/review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. These all really help the show. And join the Discord too!**You can also support us directly at https://ko-fi.com/tothewhitesea**For all things TTWS visit tothewhitesea.me