The centrepiece of this year’s Closing Credits will be a podcast produced by Media and Production students from the University of South Wales. The students are taking an active role throughout the production, developing the script and conducting interviews with Iris Prize winners, jury members and other festival guests, as well as working on the recording and production of the programme.
Date: Thursday 26 November 2026 | Time: 6:30pm – 8:15pm | Venue: 4th Floor Bar, Cineworld Cardiff
Evening Schedule:
The podcast looks back at Iris20 and hears directly from some of the people who made the festival’s 20th anniversary year so memorable. It premieres on the Iris Prize YouTube channel at 7pm on Thursday 26 November, with guests at Closing Credits watching it together at Cineworld Cardiff.
The production continues the long-standing relationship between The Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival and the University of South Wales, which, over the past ten years, has given students opportunities to gain practical experience alongside the festival. USW Performance and Media and Film students were again actively involved throughout Iris20, creating content, supporting festival activity and taking part in Industry Day. USW has described this as “sustained engagement with industry partners through which students can learn directly from creative-industry professionals”.
That partnership extends well beyond the festival week. Iris and USW have worked together across productions, events and professional-development opportunities, enabling students to gain hands-on experience and professional credits while working alongside the Iris team and filmmakers. For example, the Iris documentary film finance fund was specifically designed to involve students throughout the production cycle, from pitching and development through to production.
