Wētā FX Proud Contributors To Academy Award® Winning Animated Short ‘War Is Over! Inspired By The Music Of John & Yoko’

Wētā FX congratulate the filmmakers of ‘WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko’ on their Academy Award® win today.

Writer / Director Dave Mullins and Producer Brad Booker from ElectroLeague took home the Oscar for Best Animated Short, with Executive Producers for the film including Sean Ono Lennon and Yoko Ono, David Conley, and Karen Dufilho.

The 11-minute anti-war short features John and Yoko’s iconic song ‘Happy Xmas (War is Over)’ and boasts a unique painterly visual style that was realised by Wellington’s own Wētā FX.

The film is set in an alternate WWI reality where a senseless war rages on, two soldiers on opposite sides of the conflict play a game of chess. A heroic carrier pigeon delivers the soldiers’ chess moves over the battlefield as the fighting escalates. Neither soldier knows his opponent as the game and the war builds to its climactic final move. Whoever wins the game, one thing is for certain: there are no winners in war.

Wētā FX were creative and production partners for the film from the very beginning, and the film’s Academy Award® win marks an additional highlight in Wētā FX’s journey in original animation.

“We are incredibly proud to have played a pivotal role in this meaningful and visually stunning short film” says David Conley, Wētā FX Executive VFX Producer.

“For it be recognised with an Academy Award® speaks volumes to the filmmakers’ creative vision and leadership, and we could not be prouder to have worked alongside them to bring it to life.”

Wētā FX were themselves nominated for an Academy Award® this year, with VFX Supervisor Guy Williams representing the company’s work on ‘Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3’ in the category of Best Visual Effects.

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