Photo credits: Fiona Callister, CAFOD

We are fighting a war waged by terrorists. There are no definable battle lines. There is no uniformed militia. It is often impossible to identify the opposition's "soldiers" until it is too late. This is not a war waged on a theory of acceptable calculated risk. The "soldiers" recruited to wage this war go into "battle" to blow themselves up. The front line consists of unarmed martyrs, and often those martyrs are children.

"Stone Bird" is an original story set against the backdrop of the first known instance when children have been recruited to be martyrs in the early 1980's when the Shah of Iran fell from power. The United States embassy in Tehran was overrun by Islamic students and hostages were taken, while a war between Iran and Iraq was being fought near the Persian Gulf. The film script is based on fact and illustrates the beginnings of a theory of warfare fought with martyrs. It is a compelling action-packed story of a man and a woman, one a Westerner, one an Iranian, who form an alliance in an attempt to stop the de-humanizing madness of a war waged by militant zealots using juvenile recruits as disposable weapons in order to advance their own political agenda.

Though the fictional story of "Stone Bird" is set in a realistic Iran two decades ago, it is as timely today as a contemporary documentary. "Stone Bird" promises to be a provocative and a significant film for the mass movie audience. It is a story never told before, which needs to be told now.

“Stone Bird” is based on incidents which took place in Iran in the early 1980’s during the war between Iran and Iraq. This particular story of what happened during that war has never been told through film. When I first heard of the incidents on which “Stone Bird” is based, I could not stop thinking of the horrors of this war and I knew I had to do something to enlighten the world about such atrocities. But, how? When? I knew the time would come when I would find a way to tell this story.

The Iranian army found itself fighting the war against Iraq on the border between the two countries near the Persian Gulf. The Iraqis had mined the strip of land which was Iran’s outlet to the Persian Gulf, the avenue for exporting oil out of Iran to the rest of the world. Initially the Iranian army sent herds of donkeys across the land mines to blow them up so that the army had access to the Persian Gulf. A day arrived when Iran had no more donkeys to sacrifice, so Iranian leaders developed a new plan.

Iranian military officers went to every village and town in Iran and recruited young boys to help in the war against Iraq. The children were forced to leave their villages and march on foot through the minefields toward the Iraqi border. The children were given “golden” keys to wear around their necks and were told this key would open the “golden gates of heaven”. These young boys were blown to bits and their bodies scattered on the minefields because they had been convinced that they were giving their lives to the Almighty Allah and they were guaranteed passage into Paradise. The religious leaders who ruled Iran found a powerful tool in these eager, innocent young boys.

The idea of children walking through the minefields gave me nightmares. It was beyond anything I could imagine. How cold this happen in our world? How could these pure and innocent children have been persuaded to believe that it was good to be blown to pieces? The story of the minefields conjured visions that were unspeakably horrific, and yet I was reluctant to let the images leave my consciousness. It was a story I felt compelled to share with the world.

I began to develop the screenplay for “Stone Bird”, and then on September 11, 2001, religious zealots changed all of our lives. It was shocking to see and know that so many innocent lives were lost because of a small fanatical group of men. Again, the same compelling question: how could this happen in our world? How could religion have turned so fanatical and so powerful? Now there were many, not just a few on some distant desert border, who needed answers to these questions.

“Stone Bird” is powerful, poetic and compelling. It is the story of the power and determination of one woman, a mother, trying to save the life of her young son who has been recruited to run across a field of landmines. She encounters an unlikely ally who realizes he, too, must get involved in saving these young boys from certain death. One woman and one man from different parts of the world, from different cultures, who speak different languages, combine their courage and their tenacity to save the children.

I am Mary Apick, born in Iran, but who left for America when I was eighteen years old. I starred in many films in Iran and won awards for my work. I married an American, raised two sons, developed “Stone Bird” and am now ready to produce and star in this film, sharing a story I have believed for so long had to be told. I wish to dedicate this film, “Stone Bird”, to the children who have lost their lives on the minefields. I do this for my soul.