The jury prize winner tells the story of Harvey Pekar (the peerless Paul Giamatti), a Cleveland hospital clerk with a feisty wife (Hope Davis) and a need to turn his "ordinary" life into comic art. Filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini show how he does it (R. Crumb helps with the art). But it's the exhilarating way they blend life, comics, actors and the actual cranky Pekar himself that makes their film a one-of-a-kind marvel, the best of the fest.

“Alison”

On Elvis Costello’s country-tinged ballad, the lyric does not get too sentimental in recalling an ex who had since been with one of the singer's "little friends" and is now married. Some believe the song is about murder, due to lines like “Sometimes I wish that I could stop you from talking,” "Somebody better put out the big light" and, of course, "My aim is true,” which became the title of Costello's debut album. In 2002, Costello told Rolling Stone, “It isn’t [about murder]. It’s about disappointing somebody. It’s a thin line between love and hate, as the Persuaders sang.”