Lena Chaplin is a film and television screenwriter and director. Chaplin was born in the former Soviet Union where she studied Chemistry. During her studies, she met one Stanislav (Slava) Chaplin who will later become her husband whom she then followed to Moscow where she enroled at the prestigious VGIK Film School. In the 1976, the couple moved to Israel. Soon, they both found work at Israeli public broadcaster, Channel 1’s film division where the Chaplins spent years making films and TV features. In the nineties, Chaplin decided to quit television and go it alone. She embarked on an independent filmmaking career and began directing a slew of narrative and documentary film and television motion pictures, often collaborating with her husband, Slava. The couple remained each other’s creative partners and were still making films together when Slava passed away in 2013.
Highlights of Chaplin’s film and TV credits include T’Kuma (‘revival’) (episode #12, 1998), A Trumpet in the Wadi (feat. Stanislav Chaplin, 2001) which won Best Film at the Haifa International Film Festival; Netiva (2003); Yoel, Israel & Pashkavils (2006); The Place (feat. Stanislav Chaplin, 2006); Burning Mooki (feat. Stanislav Chaplin, 2008), which was shown at the Moscow and Haifa International Film Festivals; Voices from the Booth (2013), which was featured at the DocAviv International Documentary Film Festival; The Octettes (2016), which earned both a Special Mention at the Haifa International Film Festival and an Ophir Award for Best Documentary (in the under 60min category), and Underground Ballet (2020).
