Building on the success of last year’s “Bonjour Vietnam” Festival, this year’s event continued to serve as a cultural rendezvous, offering new and exciting highlights.
Bonjour Vietnam 2025 provided a platform for many young Vietnamese, both from within the country and from various nations around the world, to share their narratives about Vietnamese culture through the lens of a youthful, emotional, and creative generation.
Speaking to Nhan Dan Newspaper, Hoang Thu Trang, President of the Art Space Association, highlighted that the activities within the Bonjour Vietnam framework aimed to showcase the beauty of Vietnamese music, art, dance, and performance – all presented by young people themselves. Music, especially Vietnamese music, has the power to connect hearts, transcending all barriers of language, race, and nationality.
Tang Thanh Son, Deputy Director in charge of the Viet Nam Cultural Centre in France, also acknowledged that Bonjour Vietnam helps create opportunities for children of Vietnamese families, Vietnamese origin, or multicultural families of all ages to further explore their cultural heritage. Such activities foster a deeper sense of preservation and promotion of the unique cultural values of their homeland amidst everyday life in the host country.
Over two days, Bonjour Vietnam 2025 offered a diverse range of activities that blended tradition and modernity, allowing the public to experience Vietnamese culture in a vivid and multi-sensory manner.
These included the exhibition “Brilliant Viet Nam”, featuring selected artworks from over 1,000 paintings themed around Vietnamese culture, submitted by young people from 17 countries. Right next to it was “A Journey through Viet Nam” painting exhibition, created by students from Olympia International School.
French student Chloé Valtida shared that each painting reflected a young person’s view of Viet Nam, helping international visitors gain greater insight into various aspects of life in the country.
Having previously learned about Viet Nam through promotional videos online – impressed by the radiant smiles and warm hospitality of its people – the “Brilliant Viet Nam” and “A Journey through Viet Nam” displays further fuelled Chloé’s desire to visit this peaceful land one day.
Additionally, the photo collection “Delicacies of Ha Noi” applied augmented reality (AR) technology, offering viewers a multidimensional, multisensory experience.
An integral part of the Bonjour Vietnam Festival was the cultural and traditional craft village experience space.
Brothers Axel and Raphael Tran Van Ti, children of an overseas Vietnamese family, shared that printing Dong Ho folk paintings was quite challenging but also enjoyable. With guidance from volunteers, the boys gained a deeper appreciation for the profound messages embedded in each work by Dong Ho artisans.
Visitors could also take part in other traditional crafts, including making Tet holiday decorations, designing paper fans from Chang Son, viewing bamboo dragonflies from Thach That village, and receiving meaningful calligraphy scrolls from young scholar Kiem Dang. All of these contributed to creating a miniature Tet market atmosphere within the heart of the event.
Having learned about the event through a promotional article on the city's tourism website, Marc and Stéphanie Mouésan took the opportunity to bring their two daughters to the Festival over the weekend – pleasantly surprised by the rich culinary experience.
At the Countryside Market food stall, Stéphanie was delighted by the crispy, flavourful nem ran (fried spring rolls), a perfect harmony of meat, vegetables, and golden-brown rice paper.
Meanwhile, Marc was particularly impressed by the fresh and light flavours of goi cuon (fresh spring rolls), with shrimp, pork, and herbs neatly wrapped in thin rice paper and served with a delicate sweet-sour fish sauce.
The “Brilliant Viet Nam” art performance was a standout feature, blending folk traditions with modern flair. It featured the participation of nearly 100 young people from Viet Nam and the Vietnamese origin in countries such as France, Australia, Italy, Belgium, and Canada.
These young participants showcased the energy of Vietnamese youth, taking on everything from concept development and stage production to design and overall coordination of the event. Gathering a vibrant community of Vietnamese and Vietnamese-origin youth from across the globe to share stories of their homeland’s cultural heritage, the Bonjour Vietnam Festival left a lasting impression on both the Vietnamese community and French audiences alike.
