An Oscar indirectly also for John and Yoko

In the great event of the Oscar awards, in addition to the much celebrated awards that combine art and market, there are others that are far from the spotlight that comes on during the awards but which have equal artistic value.

Among the different categories in competition there is also that of the animated short film. In the 96th edition of the Academy Awards he won the prize “War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko” a 2022 animated short film directed by Dave Mullins.

At the awards ceremony it was Frresent SeanJohn Lennon's son, who wished his mother Yoko Ono a happy birthday on February 18th.

“War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko” is a short film lasting 11 minutes and is inspired by the song, a hymn to peace, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)“ Of John Lennon And Yoko Onowith the production of Phil Spectorpublished in 1971 in America and 1972 in Great Britain.

The film was written by Dave Mullins, with the story by Dave Mullins and Sean Ono Lennon (John and Yoko's son). The animated short was produced by Brad Booker and was created by Booker and Mullins' Los Angeles-based animation studio ElectroLeague, in collaboration with Lenono Music, Sean Ono Lennon and Yoko Ono.

The story of the film takes you back to the First World War. During the fighting a heroic pigeon delivers messages across the battlefield, moving from one side to another. The messages are exchanged by two soldiers on opposite sides who, unaware of their opponent, are playing a game of chess against each other. As the fighting and the match intensifies, the two soldiers continue to exchange their chess moves, delivered by the brave pigeon. Whoever wins the game, what is certain is that in war there are no winners.

The original soundtrack of the film was composed by Thomas Newmanson of “multi-Oscar” composer Alfred Newman, himself nominated 15 times for the award and winner of two BAFTAs and 6 Grammys.

“War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko” was created on the computer in 3D, produced by the ElectroLeague studio. The animation and visual effects were created by Wētā FX, Peter Jackson's New Zealand VFX company. Epic Games' Unreal Engine was used in production to create the visuals. The film was edited by John K. Carr.