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Lena Stahl was born on August 15, 1979 in Berlin. She first studied at the European Film College in Ebeltoft, Denmark, where her short film "Tre Kvinder" was made, before taking on various jobs in film and TV productions in Sweden, Denmark and also Germany for several years, including production assistantships on the Swedish comedy series "Roligt Elakt Aktuellt" and the Swedish political parody show "Parlamentet", as well as a 2nd assistant director on the German TV movie "Küss mich, Hexe!", which aired on SAT.1 in 2004.
In 2005, she started her studies in directing and screenwriting at the University of Film and Television in Munich, which she finished with her medium-length graduation film "Alle Tage meines Lebens" in 2010. The film about a pair of very different brothers, whose screenplay she co-wrote with Katharina Eyssen, was nominated for the Max Ophüls Award in 2011 and won the top prize at the Berlinaire Festival in Belgium, among other awards. Already during her studies, she had made the short film "Rote Linie" in 2006, and in 2008, co-directed with Johanna Thalmann, the documentary "Annas Garten", in which Stahl traces the life story of her grandmother through the 20th century.
At the Pro7/Sat.1 Mainstream Award in 2012, she was awarded for her screenplay concept with the working title "Blackout", which ended up becoming Sven Bohse's TV comedy "Hangover in Highheels" (2014). In the following years, Stahl developed several screenplays for cinema and TV projects for various production companies, including Claussen + Putz Filmproduktion.
Stahl's feature debut "Mein Sohn" ("My Son"), which she also penned, hit theaters at the end of 2021. Starring Anke Engelke and Jonas Dassler, the film tells of the strained relationship between a risk-loving teenager and his (overly) concerned mother. The drama premiered at the Munich Film Festival, where it also received the New German Cinema Award for Best Production.
Shortly after "Mein Sohn," Karoline Herfurth's episodic film "Wunderschön" was released in cinemas. The episodic film is based on a screenplay by Stahl and Monika Fäßler and stars Martina Gedeck, Joachim Krol, Nora Tschirner and Maximilian Brückner, among others. Stahl collaborated again with Katharina Eyssen, this time on the scripts for two episodes of the six-part Netflix series "The Empress," which will be released in 2022 and tells the story of the first months of Empress Elisabeth, "Sissi," in Vienna.
In addition to her work as a screenwriter and director, Lena Stahl is a freelance photographer. Her works were shown in October 2010 in her first solo exhibition "ICH.REISE" in Berlin and the year after in the double exhibition "TRIPTYCHON" with Andreas Tobias.