corktown common
Thursday, July 2, 2026

back to the future

With the short film Mixed Feelings

When young Marty McFly (Canada’s own Michael J. Fox), accidentally journeys back thirty years into the past in a tricked-out Delorean invented by eccentric “Doc” Brown (Christopher Lloyd), figuring out how to travel “back” to 1985 is only the start of his problems. He also needs to make sure his parents fall in love before he leaves, racing against the clock to ensure his very existence in the future. Director Robert Zemeckis' sci-fi comedy classic Back to the Future proves that timing really is everything, and explores the enduring theme of better understanding the present by unpacking our pasts. A classic “what if?” story with a whip-smart screenplay and special effects that still shine decades later, Back to the Future has earned its place in the canon of popular cinema (as evidenced by its invocation in local heroes Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, also playing at TOPS this season).

In Toronto filmmaker Devin Lee’s comedic short film Mixed Feelings, Neil, a mixed race, half-Asian half-Italian student has never quite felt like he fits in. But when he’s given the unlikely opportunity to meet two parallel universe versions of himself, one full Italian and the other full Asian, he just might have a chance of finally being accepted for who he is… if only they can all work together to make it back to their own dimensions. Lee’s colourful comedy takes viewers on an imaginative journey into the complexities of identity, whichever reality we find ourselves in.