Sean Ono Lennon will debut the Academy Award winning animated short War Is Over! on YouTube at 6pm on 1 December, with the premiere supporting War Child throughout the holiday season. The film, written by Sean with director Dave Mullins, uses the message of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Happy Xmas (War Is Over) to frame a modern call for peace and protection for children impacted by conflict.
The short won the 2024 Academy Award for Best Animated Short and the Annie Award in the same category. Its online premiere marks the first time the project will be freely accessible to the global public.
Sean Ono Lennon said he hopes the new release helps revive his parents’ message that “War is over if you want it”. The film began in 2023 as a collaboration with Mullins and producer Brad Booker. It tells the story of a carrier pigeon crossing a battlefield to deliver chess moves between two anonymous soldiers locked in a game that continues as the war intensifies.
Neither character knows the identity of the opponent, and the conflict builds to a final move that underscores the film’s central theme: that no one wins in war. The story draws on the spirit of the 1971 Christmas single Happy Xmas (War Is Over), which appears in the film.
War Child UK CEO Helen Pattinson said the project arrives at a critical moment as families in Gaza, Afghanistan and Ukraine face harsh winter conditions, displacement, hunger and trauma. She called the film a powerful reminder of the human cost of conflict and thanked the creative team and the Lennon family for using their platform to generate direct support for children.
War Is Over! was directed by Dave Mullins, produced by Brad Booker and executive produced by Yoko Ono Lennon and Sean Ono Lennon. The score was composed by Thomas Newman. The production united Lenono Music, ElectroLeague, Lightstorm Entertainment, Wētā FX and Epic Games, blending traditional storytelling with cutting-edge digital technology.
This creative convergence places the film in the lineage of Lennon and Ono’s long history of activism. Their peace campaigns began with the bed-ins of 1969 and extended to the iconic “WAR IS OVER! If You Want It” billboard series that appeared in major world cities that same year.
Released in 1971 by the Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir, Happy Xmas (War Is Over) became the seventh Lennon single issued outside his work with The Beatles. Although its US release received limited initial attention due to late season timing, the song quickly gained momentum internationally. It reached number four in the UK in 1972, then surged to number two after Lennon’s death in 1980.
The song has remained a seasonal standard for more than five decades and has been covered by artists across genres and generations. Its origins are rooted in Lennon and Ono’s view that political messages can reach wider audiences through accessible songwriting. Their earlier billboard campaign delivered a plain message in stark black text, and the 1971 single expanded that idea into a musical appeal for personal responsibility and collective peace.
The premiere of War Is Over! brings together the historical influence of Lennon and Ono’s activism with a modern visual story designed for new audiences. The film’s depiction of an imagined World War I landscape reinforces the belief that conflict contains no true victory. The carrier pigeon, cast as the central figure, symbolises fragile communication in a fractured world.
By making the film accessible on YouTube, Sean Ono Lennon hopes to amplify the story while raising urgent funding for War Child. All donations received during the premiere window and the holiday period will support safe spaces, psychological care and emergency essentials for children affected by ongoing conflicts.
The release continues the Lennon estate’s long record of using art to promote peace across generations and platforms.
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