The Scar is a film in three chapters (The State of the State, The Mouth of the Shark and The Gossip), inspired by a true event with names, scenes and locations having been fictionalised through the use of Magical Realism. In chapter one, we see four passengers on a journey in a black Mercedes, unaware of their significance as state archetypes: the Chief of Police, a politician and a right-wing assassin. The fourth passenger is Yenge, the only female traveller, silenced by the genre conventions of her role in the film. In chapter two, Yenge’s noir voiceover begins to interrupt the male characters’ forced bravado as they are haunted by the Resistant Dead – the residual movements created from stories of people refusing to be forgotten. The film’s final part, The Gossip, addresses tales of female emancipation and empowerment, where a group of female activists transcend time, geographical borders and linguistic barriers to gather in a neutral nether-realm of conversation and mutual support.

Mirza and Butler’s practice takes on, and deconstructs, urgent and complex narratives around our relationship to state power as seen in The Scar, which engages with issues of inequality and corruption, ultimately proposing a post-patriarchal near future.

Commissioned by Film London Artists' Moving Image Network with funding from Arts Council England, and in association with HOME, Spectre Productions, Edith Russ Foundation, the Delfina Foundation, and Rizwana Akram, London College Of Communications.