Underplayed Gems

The Gold Panner from Lannavaara (2025)

The Gold Panner from Lannavaara poster
Original title
Guldvaskaren från Lannavaara
Country
Sweden
Runtime
1h 30m
Rated
Btl
Rating
8.4 of 10 from 5 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like this

How it feels

A documentary about entrepreneur Hasse Söderström and his gold panning operations in Africa over 25 years. It follows his life from the Sami school in Sweden to the gold fields of Ghana and Namibia. The film also looks at the debts he built up from investors and tax authorities.

contemplativeearthypersonalunadornedmulti-layeredquietly intensereflectivegrounded

What happens

The Gold Panner from Lannavaara (Swedish: Guldvaskaren från Lannavaara) is a 2025 documentary feature film written and directed by Mattias Löw. The film stars Hans "Hasse" Söderström, Christian Daun, Arne Bergh, Jenny Söderström, Agne Söderström, James Kabu and Peter Katjavivi who served as Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia between 2015 and 2025. A Swedish-Ghanaian-Namibian co-production, it was shot in the Torne Valley, Accra, Ada, Keetmanshoop and Windhoek. The documentary had its world and Swedish theatrical premiere on 7 November 2025, and Swedish broadcast as well as on-demand streaming service premiere on Sveriges Television and SVT Play 1 January 2026. The narrative follows entrepreneur and adventurer Hasse Söderström, who attended Sami school and comes from the Meänkieli minority, and focuses on his gold operations in Africa over 25 years. The film also addresses the debts that the film’s main character accumulated over the years from investors and tax authorities in Sweden and Ghana — something that Svenska Dagbladet reported on in a podcast by author and journalist Christian Daun released in March 2024. The filming was planned to take one year, but after eight months, the main subject Hasse Söderström died in a tragic car accident on August 9, 2024, near the town of Tses in Namibia. The documentary is produced by Freedom From Choice and Swedish Television, with support from Region Gävleborg, Film Västmanland, Region Jämtland Härjedalen, and the Greta Foundation, distributed in Swedish cinemas by Folkets Hus och Parker, and created by award-winning filmmaker and photographer Mattias Löw. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.