Under the Queen's Umbrella

- Shari Redstone, “Miky has unshakable integrity, passion for great stories”

Miky Lee, Vice Chairwoman of CJ Group, was honored with the Global Citizen Award on September 23rd at the Atlantic Council’s awards ceremony in New York City. 

Lee, the first Asian female entrepreneur to receive the honor, emphasized the importance of cultural bridges of compassion, hope, and empathy, and the embrace of building a global platform for future generations.

The evening’s award ceremony at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York was attended by over 700 distinguished guests, including global political, economic, and cultural leaders. Among the other Global Citizen Award recipients were Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana; Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece; and Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy. 

High-profile figures such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Managing Partner of Sherpalo Ventures Ram Shriram, co-founder of DreamWorks SKG Jeffrey Katzenberg, former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, and <Pachinko> author Min Jin Lee were also in attendance to celebrate the honorees.

During her acceptance speech, Lee reflected on the evolution of Korean culture on the world stage: “We have witnessed how entertainment can be a bridge. Films like <Parasite> have started important conversations about inequality, not just in Korea, but everywhere,” she said. “From our K-pop to our K-dramas, we have shown that cultural boundaries can be blurred, and that joy, laughter and love are universal.”

“It is not just about the content we make, it’s about the connections we create. Entertainment gives us a space where people from different backgrounds can come together and share something beautiful. Entertainment may not have the power to end wars, but it does have the power to build bridges. Bridges of compassion, hope, and empathy,” Lee said.

Lee also recalled CJ’s journey, inspired by her grandfather and the founder of CJ Group and Samsung Group Lee Byung-chul’s belief in “No culture, no country.” She highlighted CJ’s early investment in DreamWorks in the 1990s to learn from the best - Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen, which propelled Korea’s media industry onto the world stage. She emphasized the support and strategic vision of her brother Jay Lee, CJ Group Chairman.

Lee credited the younger generation as the driving force behind the global cultural movement. “We are continuing to create the platforms that embrace the youth culture. Provide a platform where they can create, collaborate, express themselves, and fulfill their dreams,” Lee explained. She emphasized that the future of the cultural business lies with the youth, adding, “In this digital social media era, there are strong ecosystems for us to collaborate generationally, globally and seamlessly move together. Let’s make sure we build more roads for people to share their compassion, discipline, and humility.”

“No matter where we are from, no matter what language we speak, we are all part of one global community, and the stories we tell can help us navigate the roads together towards a more compassionate future,” added Lee.

Shari Redstone, Chair of Paramount Global who presented the award, praised Lee’s influence on the global cultural landscape over the past 30 years, highlighting her contributions to connecting creators and artists worldwide. “Miky embodies the qualities that I admire the most: unshakable integrity, and a passion for great stories” Redstone said.

Jim Yong Kim, former president of the World Bank, remarked, “We were students together at Harvard in the mid-1980’s when Miky Lee declared she would bring Korean culture to the world. We didn’t understand her vision but she went on to build K-pop, K-drama and other K-genres from the ground up. Everyone in Korea who has reached global stardom understands that it was Miky’s brilliant vision that paved the way.”

Min Jin Lee, author of <Pachinko>, also stated, “Miky Lee is a wondrous colossus, who continues to imagine and create a hopeful world where human dignity can flourish through art, music, and narrative. She is peerless in her prodigious creativity and talent and singular in her ability to nurture artistic communities without borders. I cannot think of anyone who deserves more accolades for her continuing contribution and sacrificial labor toward building a more engaged and connected culture for present and future generations.”

Frederick Kempe, President of the Atlantic Council, also commended Lee for her dedication to fostering artistic storytelling worldwide. "We honor Miky Lee for her decades-long leadership in injecting vision for cultural businesses at CJ Group, her influence in globalizing Korean culture, including producing the Academy Award-winning film <Parasite>, and her commitment to promote artistic storytelling on the world stage," Kempe said.

The ceremony reflected the global status of entertainment as a cultural bridge. Following Lee’s speech, pioneering Korean hip-hop artists Tiger JK and Yoonmirae, along with Yoshiki, the legendary rockstar in Japan, delivered performances that conveyed the message of the unifying power of music.

Miky Lee has been a leading force in globalization of Korean cultural industries, raising the value of Korean film, drama, and music on the global stage. Over the past three decades, she has been a champion of cultural exchange between East and West, playing a significant role in elevating the international influence of Korean culture. Her efforts have earned her numerous accolades, including the 2022 International Emmy Directorate Award, the Pillar Award from the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and the Geumgwan Order of Cultural Merit in Korea in 2023. She also received the Abu Dhabi Festival Award in the Middle East.

Lee was an executive producer for <Past Lives>, which was nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards. She is currently producing <Bugonia>, an upcoming film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, a remake of the Korean sci-fi film <Save the Green Planet!>. Furthermore, Lee has been a driving force behind global K-culture initiatives, having launched the K-pop Fan & Artist Festival KCON and the MAMA AWARDS, the world’s No.1 K-pop awards, expanding their reach into the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East.

Leading entertainment company CJ ENM revealed today its trajectory for the upcoming 2024 Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) opening up on October 2nd. The K-content conglomerate will be putting together exclusive premieres and a specialized forum at the film festival with its subsidiaries and partners.

The first from the CJ ENM content lineup to land at BIFF are TVING originals <Dongjae, the Good or the Bastard> and <Way Back Love>. The two upcoming series are invited to the “On Screen” section of this year’s BIFF to be premiered for an audience ahead of their official release.

Produced by the premium storyteller group Studio Dragon and released on the No.1 K-content streaming platform TVING, <Dongjae, the Good or the Bastard> is a spin-off of the widely acclaimed crime thriller <Stranger>, originally aired on the CJ ENM-affiliated K-content channel tvN. Scheduled to launch in 2025, <Way Back Love> is the first OTT series produced by CJ ENM’s Film Business Division, already garnering attention for its quality as teased in the trailer.

<RM: Right People, Wrong Place>, BTS leader RM’s documentary of which CJ 4DPLEX is the global distributor, is also being unveiled at BIFF as part of the “Open Cinema” section. This marks the film festival’s first large-scale K-pop documentary premiere. Disclosing the creative process behind RM’s second studio album, the documentary will be screened at 8pm KST on October 7th at the outdoor theater of the Busan Cinema Center.

On the morning of October 4th, CJ ENM, BIFF, and Cine21 will jointly host the 2024 CJ Movie Forum <Navigating the New Paradigm> to exchange views on how to steer the future of the K-content industry. Bringing together key figures from CJ and entertainment professionals, the forum will share strategies and insights behind the industry-leading content produced by CJ, along with progressive tactics of the K-content ecosystem, and discuss how K-content can achieve a global leap.

Visitors at BIFF can also enjoy additional events on-site. From October 2nd to 5th, TVING will host a pop-up store at Haeundae near the BIFF venue for audiences to interactively experience TVING’s flagship content. On October 6th, two content IPs currently in co-production by O’PEN, CJ ENM’s program for emerging creators, and the Busan Film Commission will be introduced at the Asian Contents & Film Market happening within BIFF. The two parties will showcase their IP co-production project to various content IP industry figures at the film festival.

New initiative better reflects diverse global K-pop fans’ voices to create the world’s No.1 K-pop awards together with fans 

Leading entertainment company CJ ENM today announced that its annual “2024 MAMA AWARDS,” the world’s No.1 K-pop awards, will recruit the  “2024 MAMA SUPER FAN,” for the first time in its 25-year history as a way to reflect the voices of K-pop fans around the world more directly than ever before. 

“2024 MAMA SUPER FAN” is open to K-pop enthusiasts of all ages and nationalities and can be applied to through the global K-pop platform “Mnet Plus” from August 22 to September 12. Applicants need to demonstrate that they are avid fans of K-pop by uploading a wide range of photos to the Mnet Plus app. More details and information are available on the Mnet Plus app.

The “SUPER FAN” will have various exclusive benefits, including the privilege to select nominees for the “Fans’ Choice,” one of the MAMA AWARDS categories that honors the most influential artists chosen by fans. Every year, the MAMA AWARDS have continuously reflected global K-pop trends and fan voices through the “Fans’ Choice” category. With the “SUPER FAN,” the awards will further enhance the fan voting system and boost more active K-pop fan engagement around the world.

Additionally, the “SUPER FAN” will receive a special ID card as certification, and will be able to get a ticket by a draw for Mnet’s various global K-pop events for a year.

The aim of the SUPER FAN is part of CJ ENM’s ongoing efforts to better reflect diverse voices of global K-pop fans and create the awards together with fans around the world. 

Boasting a 25-year legacy, the 2024 MAMA AWARDS have been at the forefront of K-pop’s expansion by hosting the ceremony across Asia, including Macao, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Japan. Underscoring CJ ENM’s commitment to elevate K-pop music on a global scale, this year’s MAMA AWARDS will kick off at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on November 21 (PST), having a part of the event take place in U.S. for the first time. The full ceremony will be held at the KYOCERA DOME OSAKA in Japan over two days from November 22 to 23 (KST/JST).