Bettina Haasen, born 1969 in Göttingen, studied African studies and political science in Hamburg and Paris. Subsequently, she worked as a producer for the Berlin-based film production company EGOLI that specializes in documentary films from the mid-1990s on. During this time, she started to realize smaller film projects in her own right and made her award-winning debut as a documentary filmmaker in 1999 with the film "Zwischen zwei Welten".

In 2001, Haasen decided to go to Niger in Western Africa. Three years later, she returned to Germany and continued her career as a documentary filmmaker. Since then, her main focus has been on African topics, for instance, in the TV production "Fremde Liebe" (2994) that tells the story of an arranged marriage for a 13-year old Tuared girl. Besides her work for TV productions, Haasen regularly teaches at InWent in Bad Honnef.

In 2009, Bettina Haasen made her debut on the movie screen with the documentary film "Hotel Sahara" about a transit station for migrants from Africa on their way to Europe.