German cinema veteran Wim Wenders unveiled his first feature film in seven years Tuesday, the 3-D drama "Every Thing Will Be Fine" starring James Franco as a writer who accidentally kills a child.
Wenders, 69, has focused mainly on documentaries of late and his most recent, "Salt of the Earth" about Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado, is up for an Academy Award later this month.
"Every Thing Will Be Fine", screening out of competition at the 65th Berlin film festival, took three years to make and was finished just before the 11-day event.
It is Wenders' first drama since 2008's "Palermo Shooting" and tells the story of Tomas, a Canadian author (Franco) who runs over a child when the boy's sledge unexpectedly slides onto the road in front of his car.
The devastated mother, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, tells him that the accident was not his fault and the two forge a bond in grief and guilt.
Tomas' subsequent novels, which incorporate some of the details from the accident, become runaway bestsellers and critical successes.  But as the dead boy's brother grows older, he confronts Tomas and accuses him of capitalising on the tragedy.
Wenders said the 3-D effects, which he first used in his 2011 documentary "Pina" about the late German choreographer Pina Bausch, brought a dramatic depth to the story.
"3-D has a magnifying effect on everything, also emotions," he told reporters after a press preview, saying his aim had been to "tell a dramatic story in pictures".
"Towards the end of 'Pina', I realised that just having a human being in front of the camera without anything, just a person, was mind-blowing, and that you had different relationship to this close-up and could see a whole different presence."
- 3-D soul -
Franco, 36, said the third dimension helped reveal "the soul of the character in a new way and to engage the audience with the character or all of the characters in a much closer way than we're used to".
Franco, who is also an author, visual artist, director and producer, said he had long hoped to work with Wenders, best known for his 1980s classics "Wings of Desire" and "Paris, Texas".
"One of the great things about Wim is that he is an aficionado and is passionate about all aspects of filmmaking -- the music, the imagery, the photography, the performance, the writing," he said.
"All of these things it feels like are of equal importance to Wim to the extent that he'll pursue those things outside of a film -- just pursue photography in its own sphere. He's done that with such expertise and efficiency and that is something that I look up to and try to achieve."
Franco is appearing in three films at the Berlinale, as the festival is known, and his controversial North Korea comedy "The Interview" just came out in Germany.
Asked by a reporter how he juggled arthouse dramas and entertainment blockbusters, Franco said he felt "confident doing either kind".
"On 'The Interview' the tone was very different and what Seth (Rogan) hired me to do was a very different kind of acting and so I went with all that with all of my energy," he said.
"And what Wim wanted me to do on this film was very different -- it was a much quieter, more subtle kind of performance and so that's what I tried to give him."
Wenders will accept a Golden Bear prize for his life's work during the Berlinale, which runs until Sunday.