(the empty sign)

Abstract

This essay elaborates the research and pre-production phase for a feature length experimental documentary titled ♇ (the empty sign) with the intention of showing how such a work, although made to exist mainly within the sphere of the art world, engages with concerns common to anthropology and can be seen as a hybrid between the two disciplines. In order to provide a context for the piece short histories of US imperialism in the Caribbean and the former planet Pluto are provided as well as descriptions of earlier films that relate to this project and an elaboration of the term essay film.