To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email or phone 020 7239 9857.The hour-long programme is made by independent production company Visual Voodoo. "In addition to the face-to-face interviews with Meiwes, the producers gained unique access to never seen footage from inside his house in Rotenburg, home videos, the crime scene and close friends of the victim."įive is expected to air the programme as part of a mini-season of three documentaries on cannibalism, which will also include Cannibal Superstar, about Japanese man Issei Sagawa, who murdered and ate his girlfriend and has since become a bizarre celebrity. "With unprecedented and exclusive access to Meiwes in prison, the life history of the perperator, his background and the motives for his deed are illuminated for the first time," an RDF spokeswoman said. In the early hours of the morning, Meiwes then killed his victim before chopping up the body parts and slowly eating them over several months. Meiwes famously then cut off Brandes' penis - with the man's agreement - and fried it for both of them to eat. In March that year, Brandes visited Meiwes at his house in the small town of Rotenburg where he swallowed 20 sleeping tablets and half a bottle of schnapps. Meiwes first made contact with Brandes in 2001 after advertising for a "young well-built man, who wanted to be eaten". RDF Media, which is reversioning the film made by German company Stampfwerk Medienproduktions for the UK, said it was a "truly gripping documentary". It will feature interviews with Meiwes in prison, where he is serving a life sentence. Meiwes was eventually convicted in May 2006 of the murder of Brandes after prosecutors appealed against an earlier conviction for manslaughter.įive is expected to air an hour-long German documentary, The Cannibal of Rotenburg, later this year.