When Sean Ono Lennon teamed up with filmmaker Dave Mullins to create the short film War Is Over! , winning an Academy Award was the last thing on his mind. His focus was taking the anti-war anthem “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” — written and recorded by his parents, John Lennon and Yoko Ono , in 1971 — and introducing it to a new generation in an animated film about enemy soldiers in World War One playing chess via a carrier pigeon.

The 11-minute film played at a number of film festivals, and it ultimately picked up an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. “John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote a song that inspired us,” Mullins told the global audience at the Oscar telecast. “It is a global message that we tried to honor with this film.” The clock ran out before Lennon had much time to speak.

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