AN animated film made by a North-East company is to premiere at Cannes and could become a £2m production.

Qurios Entertainment is celebrating after its creation about dinosaurs living with animals on a farm grew from a comic strip into a trailer called Farmageddon that will be shown at the prestigious Cannes Mipcom festival.

The Hartlepool company received a £10,000 development grant from Northern Film and Media, the North-East's screen agency, to enable initial production to take place.

It is hoping further financial support to make a series of shows.

Niel Bushnell, Qurios managing director, said: "It is a very competitive industry and we will be pitching alongside a lot of established animations giants. Receiving this grant from Northern Film and Media means they obviously think the project has a lot of merit and it is a great confidence booster. We believe in what we are doing, but to hear it from outside sources is always encouraging."

Farmageddon is the creation of Mr Bushnell, and former schoolmate Gordon Fraser, who have worked on the project for more than 15 years.

Now, the company is in talks to produce Farmageddon comic strips in newspapers and has set up a website - www.farmageddon.tv