2025 Nominees

The Travel Show - Vietnam: Return to Banana Garden Market

BBC

UK

- Lifestyle

Fifty years after the end of the Vietnam War, William Lee Adams embarks on an epic journey through the country that shaped his family. The son of a Vietnamese war bride and an American military serviceman, William spent much of his early life caring for his severely disabled older brother John. The program follows William as he returns John’s ashes to family in Ho Chi Minh City, where John was born at the height of the conflict. For William, it’s a final thank you to his brother for the life they shared. This powerful travelogue provides a strong sense of contemporary Vietnam as we travel from a vibrant food market to a traditional incense village and on to a bustling amusement park. We expand the form by weaving his family’s story into that journey through retrospective storytelling and archival footage. William’s candid conversations contribute to his search for inner peace and a better understanding of his mixed-race identity. The internal journey mirrors the physical one.