Portraits of Another Life
Maker Faire Bay Area 2026
September 25th-27th
Portraits of Another Life is an independent documentary series about artists, builders, inventors, and craftspeople creating lives on their own terms. At Maker Faire, we will build a small live documentary studio and invite attendees to answer one central question: “What have you made that changed you?”
Participants will experience how a documentary portrait is created through lighting, interviewing, sound, and photography, while contributing to a collective cinematic portrait of the Maker Faire community. The exhibit will also feature captioned excerpts from our existing films about woodcarvers, kinetic sculptors, ceramicists, and other makers, alongside an interactive nomination wall where visitors can recommend someone whose story deserves to be documented.
Portraits of Another Life
Portraits of Another Life is a documentary series about people who have chosen to live a little differently. Artists, builders, poets, makers, and other seekers appear here as individuals who have shaped lives of depth and substance by following craft and discipline rather than convention. These films are interested in how a life gets made by hand and by habit. They are portraits of people who have stepped outside the usual path and, in doing so, illuminate other ways of thinking about success, belonging, and meaning.
