This film has been completed and is available on DVD.
In 1989 the idea of a band was planted in the minds of three friends. Three years later, this idea became a reality with the addition of new friends and band members. But when you are a teenager, it's hard to have your creativity taken seriously. With nowhere to play and no scene to be a part of, what do you do?
You build one yourself.
With little more than naiveté and boundless enthusiasm, the band sets out to build a music scene out of backyards, garages and rented town halls. In a year's' time, the band has established itself as a creative hub, drawing in more and more musicians, artists and aficionados into the fold and providing an outlet for the collective creative energies of the underage youth of the area.
Once they had accomplished this task, unimagineable years before, where did they go from here? In the case of Foggy Mountain Breakdown, the answer is nowhere. However while the band disappeared into the void as so many independent artists do, the spirit and character lives on through the individual members, their future accomplishments and the many lives who's trajectories may have been changed through the experience.
"Breakdown" is the story of a band that never made it out of the incubator but in the process created an environment where others were inspired to take the chance of doing something creative themselves as well as the encouragement needed to do what many people consider impossible. The film "Breakdown" intends to extend this idea to a wider audience than the ones who lived the story, and provide another generation of musicians, artists and creative thinkers with the knowledge that even though you may not achieve financial success in any single creative venture that it is the attempt, not the result that is the true reward.
Official Selection! Beloit International Film Festival.
Winner! "Best of Edgerton", The Edgerton Book and Film Festival.
Director's Cut - "Breadown" is featured on the Wisconsin Public Television program Director's Cut.