It so happened Mr Brulhart had amassed a small collection of cow-related items, which had begun as ajoke when his mother sent him a bovine T-shirt. When Dr Ulrich Sacker, director of the Goethe-Institut, told the designers that research by the consuls-general indicated people in Hong Kong associated their countries with three items - mountains, snow and cows - the design path seemed clear.

'We said to them that a cow was interesting, it's recognisable as a character and we could make it a mascot,' says Mrs Cansier, the company's design director. 'It's a sympathetic animal so we knew we could build a promotion around it.' That is why, if you have been out on the streets during the past few days, you may have seen a large fibreglass cow called Max being driven past. If you have not, then you stand a good chance of glimpsing Max throughout the coming week as she (despite the name, appearances strongly suggest this is a cow not a bull) trundles around Hong Kong on the back of a lorry.

The film festival, which is also called Max!, starts on Friday at the Arts Centre and Broadway Cinematheque, and Max, in her charming pastoral way, is doing the promotional hoofwork.

The idea of moving a life-size fibreglass cow round a city is not unique. Earlier this year, the authorities in Zurich decided to brighten up their streets with about 800 cows, each one of them individually painted. When Marc & Chantal Design suggested the festival could be personified by a cow, the Swiss consul-general remembered the Zurich project.

He asked Zurich if it had a cow left over from its production line and Max was duly delivered, an impressive 70 kilograms, in mid-September with Swissair kindly playing the role of veterinary midwife. She was then a blank canvas with which the designers could play.

'People locally see German films as a bit boring so it was important to have a funny image, to give Max big eyes and glasses, like a cartoon character,' says Mrs Cansier.

The association with film had to be implanted in spectators' minds too, which is why black-and-white reels curl seductively round Max's flanks. 'We wanted Max to look vibrant while making sure that people could recognise it was a cow, and not a weird animal.' The Academy for Performing Arts (APA) provided Max with a home while she was being beautified. Some of the APA students helped with painting Max and with compiling a film trailer (in which Max transforms herself into an animated clapboard), which is currently being shown at the participating studios and at UA Times Square.

Mr Brulhart has designed a bovine trophy (not an Oscar, as he points out, but a Max) which will be awarded by the Hong Kong Film Critics Society to the festival's best film.

'Max would like to be a director,' observes Mr Brulhart. 'She loves being the focus of attention. Her favourite films are Heidi and Little House On The Prairie.

'And The Milkbar in Lan Kwai Fong is her favourite hangout.' In fact Max is evidently a sane cow who only moves in select company. She has already been introduced to Martin Lee Chu-ming at a lunch for Swiss businessmen at the American Club in Exchange Square; she had to travel on her fibreglass rump in the lift but emerged with dignity and paintwork intact. She also met Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa on German National Day. Mr Brulhart is not sure of the exact conversational details but believes Mr Tung assured Max Hong Kong's economy would recover.

She was also supposed to be taken around Happy Valley racecourse on racing night with a jockey strapped to her back. The Jockey Club was enthusiastic about the idea until someone mentioned that it was bad fung shui to mix cows and horses whereupon it was quietly dropped. Neither is the Star Ferry keen to encourage Max to nip to Kowloon to shop. But she will be at the Peak today and Lan Kwai Fong during the week.

This is not the first time Marc & Chantal have created a character out of an inanimate object. Two weeks ago, The Cartoon Network in Australia unveiled Sam who is half-machine, half-cartoon and wholly the product of the designers' imaginations. They completely mapped out his character and psychology as presenter of a cartoon show called Toonsagogo.

'We like unusual things where we can be hands-on in making the image,' explains Mrs Cansier.

And Max's image has earned her at least one devoted fan. A woman has already rung the designers saying she wishes to buy the cow after the festival ends on November 5. It is possible that there will be a charity auction to raise funds for film students at the APA. Whatever happens, Max will certainly go to a happy home. There are absolutely no plans to visit the Kennedy Town abattoir during her stay.