The Gold Panner from Lannavaara (2025)

Original title

Guldvaskaren från Lannavaara

Directed by

Mattias Löw

Genre

documentary, history, adventure

Country

Sweden

Runtime

1h 30m

Rated

Btl

Rating

8.4 of 10 from 5 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

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.

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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)

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