CJ Cultural Foundation Awards 3 Creators at Toronto International Film Festival's K-Story Fund to Support North American Activities

The CJ Cultural Foundation announced on September 14 that it awarded the final three selected creators and presented them with creative support grants at the CJ & TIFF K-Story Fund (hereafter referred to as the K-Story Fund) ceremony held at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, on September 12 (local time).

Based on Chairman Lee Jay-hyun's social contribution philosophy that "corporations should become dream keepers for the youth," the CJ Cultural Foundation supports young creators in underrepresented areas of popular culture and discovers Korean-descendant film creators residing in North America to expand the global reach of K-content.

Launched in September 2023 by the CJ Cultural Foundation in partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), the K-Story Fund helps Korean-descendant film creators active in North America develop their feature film debuts and next projects.

Marking its third year, this year's K-Story Fund selected eight projects out of those submitted through a public call from last November to January as candidates for scenario development mentoring. The eight preliminary selected works received scenario development mentoring connected by CJ Cultural Foundation from CJ ENM for about four months from March to June, and three creators were ultimately selected from among them.

Serving as ambassadors for this year's K-Story Fund were director Maggie Kang, who led the global success of the animation "KPop Demon Hunters", and actor Teo Yoo, who became the first Korean actor to be nominated for Best Actor at the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) for the film "Past Lives". They delivered messages of encouragement via video during the final winner announcement held on August 31 (local time).

The final selected creators are Andrea Bang for "I Don't Understand", Jiyun June Lee for "The Invisible Land of Love", and Josh Kim for "Camellia Girl".

Andrea Bang is an actor and writer known for her role as Janet in the TV series "Kim's Convenience", and Jiyun June Lee is the creator of "Motherland", a selected work of the CJ Cultural Foundation's 2022 rookie film creator support program "STORY UP". Josh Kim previously submitted his previous film "How to Win at Checkers" to the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. Each of the three creators will receive 10,000 Canadian dollars (approximately 10 million Korean won) to help them focus on project development.

The award ceremony was held on September 12 (local time) at the Toronto International Film Festival's "Korea Night" event, attended by Min Hee-kyung, head of the CJ Social Contribution Promotion Group; Han Sang-jun, chairman of the Korean Film Council; Anita Lee, chief programmer of the Toronto International Film Festival; along with figures from the Korean film industry and TIFF. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the CJ Cultural Foundation, a special program was also arranged, featuring the screening of a commemorative video capturing the process and achievements of discovering and supporting creators over the past 20 years, the delivery of plaque of appreciation to TIFF and the Korean Film Council, and a signing ceremony to extend the K-Story Fund agreement for another three years.

Min Hee-kyung, head of the CJ Social Contribution Promotion Group, said, "Over the past 20 years, the CJ Cultural Foundation has worked hard to discover the potential of young creators, support their growth, and expand the K-content ecosystem," adding, "We will continue our support so that creators can thrive on the global stage."

Meanwhile, the 51st Toronto International Film Festival runs through September 20.

(Photo: Yonhap News / Reported by Kim Ji-hye, SBS Entertainment News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.