Mexicandirector Guillermo del Toro started shooting this week in Spain on his latestfeature, the Spanish-language Pan's Labyrinth.

The filmblends fairy tale and realism in the story of a 13-year-old girl named Ofeliawho discovers the ruins of a labyrinth where a mysterious creature hails her asa long-awaited princess and puts her to a three-part test to prove heridentity.

Themagical experience contrasts with the crude reality of Ofelia's life in CivilWar-torn Spain: an ailing mother who has moved her to the rural home of hercruel new stepfather, a captain in Franco's army working to eradicate the lastvestiges of Republican resistance.

Labyrinth(El Laberinto Del Fauno) starsMaribel Verdu (Y Tu Mama Tambien), SergiLopez (Harry, He's Here To Help), Ariadna Gil (BelleEpoque), Doug Jones (Hellboy), AlexAngulo (The Day Of The Beast), and Ivana Baquero (Fragile)as Ofelia.

The movieshoots for 14 weeks between Madrid and Segovia. Del Toro previously filmed TheDevil's Backbone (El Espinazo Del Diablo) in Spain.That film similarly explored the horrors of the Spanish Civil War using a ghosttale told from the perspective of a young boy abandoned in a rural orphanage.

BroadcasterTelecinco is co-producing Labyrinth with newproduction company OMM Films, set up in Spain by Tequila Gang's del Toro andBerta Navarro together with Alfonso Cuaron and Frida Torresblanco.

Wild Bunchhas international rights and Warner Bros will handle distribution in Spain andLatin America.