"My composition for Pan's Labyrinth emerged from a simple crescent moon. The moon is a recurring symbol throughout the film, marking Ophelia's journey toward the final trial in the Labyrinth. It also carries associations with cycles, transformation, and the passage from childhood into adulthood. From that crescent shape, a world unfolded, suspended between above and below. Ophelia sits alongside the faun in the upper realm, while beneath her hangs an inverted world inhabited by the Pale Man, the Toad, and the Forbidden Feast. The faun bridges these two worlds, his legs transforming to roots that wrap around the dark around below, as he guides and entangles her in three trials. As I worked on the composition, I thought of how the film's coming-of-age story intertwines with this political narrative. Pan's Labyrinth is set against the backdrop of fascist Spain, where obedience is valued above conscience. Throughout the film, Ophelia is confronted with authority figures who demand submission, yet in her final act she chooses compassion over obedience and sacrifice over violence. The pomegranates beneath the composition reference Persephone and the Underworld, but they also evoke blood, eggs, and internal organs, suggestive of birth, lineage, and transformation. These themes run throughout the film, where blood carries two opposing meanings. For Captain Vidal, blood represents inheritance and legacy. For Ophelia, blood becomes an act of sacrifice and moral choice. At the center of the composition, Ophelia holds a key, a relic from her trials. This suggests that the passage between childhood and adulthood cannot be unlocked by authority or inheritance. She must be open to her choice. The key not only symbolizes the hidden kingdom of her imagination, but of the courage that allows her to find her way through the Labyrinth."