Inkyung Lee, vice chairperson of CJ Group, delivered a speech at the graduation ceremony of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles on the 16th (local time). This university is a prestigious film school that has produced notable figures such as George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, and Robert Zemeckis, the director of Forrest Gump.
On this day, Lee took the stage introduced by Donna Langley, chairperson of NBCUniversal Studios. Langley is the first female chairperson of NBCUniversal Studios. Both Lee and Langley were named side by side in the Hollywood Reporter’s annual list of the 100 most powerful women in the global entertainment industry.
In her speech, Lee highlighted three key values that shaped who she is today: humility, resilience, and compassion.
Lee mentioned that she learned humility by observing many excellent peers who studied hard to attend university after entering Seoul National University. She said, “My classmates were truly outstanding and intelligent, and I found out that more than half of them studied alone in the countryside without the tutoring I received.” She continued, “When I studied Chinese philosophy at Harvard Graduate School, I realized that my American classmates read Chinese characters better than I did, even though I started learning those characters at age 5.” She then expressed, “At that time, I felt like I was a frog in a well.”
While explaining the importance of resilience in overcoming crises, Lee spoke about the challenges CJ faced when it attempted to introduce the first multiplex cinema in the country in 1996. She recounted, “At that time, most theaters had outdated screens, and people thought we were crazy.” She added, “The older generation said, ‘Movies are a waste of time and money. Who pays to cry?’” She responded, “So I said, ‘Koreans are people who know how to cry properly.’” This drew laughter among the graduates.
Lee stated, “Since opening the first multiplex in 1998, we have opened more than 190 multiplexes over the past 15 years.” She added, “During that time, Koreans who had never gone to theaters became people who go five times a year,” and noted, “Even though there was a crisis afterward, we expanded into China, Vietnam, and Turkey, and now we have developed ScreenX and 4DX to innovate the movie-watching experience.” Lee encouraged, “Please watch Mission Impossible, F1, and Jurassic World in 4DX.” The graduates responded with enthusiastic applause.
While explaining the importance of compassion toward others, Lee mentioned directors Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho, and Kim Ji-woon. She stated, “Works like Decision to Leave, The Good, the Bad, the Weird, and Parasite required years of effort and dedication.” She continued, “I also saw how much the directors respect each other’s work, support one another, and nurture young filmmakers.” She concluded, “Success without compassion for others is empty.”
As the speech concluded, attendees, including the school dean seated behind the podium and graduates, rose to their feet and applauded.