The 1980s saw the birth of prairie post-modern cinema, a Winnipeg art movement that gained major international acclaim. At the centre of the movement was the subversive Greg Klymkiw, who produced, acted in and distributed all of the major works of Guy Maddin. Survival Lessons is a humorous film featuring candid interviews with Klymkiw and Maddin, who give intimate accounts of their friendship and the rise of both Maddin's career and the Winnipeg Film Group.