New Brunswick filmmaker Greg Hemmings, of Hemmings House Pictures in Saint John, has won first place in this year's Commonwealth Vision Awards.

Hemmings was in London, England, on Wednesday evening to receive the honour from Lord David Putnam, who produced films such as Chariots of Fire, The Killing Fields and The Mission.

Hemmings won for Papikatuk, a short film shot in the Arctic community of Kangiksujuaq, Nunavik.

"So it was a really neat story about a young, eight-year-old Inuit boy, hanging out with his grandfather — his grandfather teaching him the ways of Inuit life, and his grandfather also a little bit nervous about teaching him the right things about the future because everything is changing so quickly in the Arctic," Hemmings told CBC News.

The boy's name is Papikatuk, and he narrates the film, which highlights the way global warming is affecting life in Arctic communities.

The theme of this year's Vision Awards, jointly organized by the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, was global change.

A high commendation and second place went to Pooja Pottenkulam of India and Ambjorn Elder of Sweden for The Boy Who Spoke Moomoo, about the disappearances of native languages.

Four other shortlisted entries came from Uganda, India, South Africa and the United Kingdom.