Beg Your Way To The Top

"Beg Your Way To The Top"
Filmed in Paris, France (primarily in english language with some subtitles).

Sarah Thomas -Director
Allison Ajluni -MoOF Director
Lauren Train -Cinematographer
Rupal Patel -MoOF Cinematographer
Katie Oleski -Sound, Light/Tech Guru
Year: 2010

This film was created as part of a senior thesis research project in a course at Michigan State University. Learn more here: https://sites.google.com/site/ouistitiparis2010/ and http://www.msu.edu/course/lbs/492/luckie

In 2010 a group of 21 undergraduates from the Lyman Briggs residential College of Science at Michigan State University participated in a summer Study Abroad Program in Paris on language, art and science (http://www.msu.edu/~luckie/paris/ ). This student-made documentary film examines what it would be like to live the life of a Beggar on the street of Paris and then what food, housing etc you could afford. The filmmakers personal exploration also included evaluating their ability to achieve levels on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs scale. The inspiration for this project comes from Morgan Spurlock, the mastermind behind the film "SuperSize Me" and the sitcom "30 Days" on FX where people live the life or lifestyle of another to gain an understanding of what it is like to "live 30 days in someone else's shoes."

The filmmakers of film group Ouistiti state:
"During the summer of 2010, the five of us who are in the Lyman Briggs program at Michigan State University studied abroad in Paris, France. We were to live the life of a Parisian and observe our surroundings to pick a topic that would bridge a health issue and Paris. While there are endless health issues that extend world wide something in particular did stand out in Paris. There were homeless people on every street, something we were not accustom to seeing in East Lansing. Part of our initial assignment was that we needed to include a "30 day" aspect, meaning we had to "live" our project. We took the challenge, all of us had to beg on the streets and switch our privileged lifestyle of going to an university, studying abroad, having a place to sleep, food to eat, a nice shower, etc. for a dirty "white nighty", a box holding our possessions of two small blankets, and a cup for change. While watching our documentary film "Beg Your Way To The Top," we hope it will open your eyes to the thousands of people are homeless on the streets of Paris and the struggles and obstacles that are present in their everyday lives. With a combination of photographs, interviews, statistics, and a large dose of reality it is apparent that life on the street is not easy. The second documentary, "Beg to Differ" is a film that documents the making of the movie, "Beg Your Way To The Top."  It will give you a glimpse of our groups personal experience of leaving our comfort to being immersed in a foreign country and being stripped of our possessions and left to beg outside grocery stores. Studying abroad in Paris, France was a wonderful experience in and of itself, let alone being able to taste what it is like to be homeless on the streets of Paris like so many we saw. This is an experience we will not soon forget, and one that we will hopefully continue to reflect on and impact us as we continue our endeavors. Ultimately as we have learned and grown we hope that these films will impact others and change their perception of homeless not only in Paris, but in other countries as well. While we focused on Paris, homelessness is a problem worldwide."

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Paris
• homeless
• beg
• morgan spurlock
• Lyman Briggs
• Michigan State University