Pole position by MATTHEW HAYS Our city has yet another first in the film festival department; this time it's the debut of The Polish Film Festival of Montreal. The event, which takes place this Friday, Nov. 24 to Sunday Nov. 26 at the Egyptien, includes Krzysztof Krauze's The Debt, Jerzy Stuhr's Big Animal, Olaf Linde Lubaszenko's Guys Don't Cry and Taniec Trzcin's La Danse des roseaux. The inaugural festival's guest of honour is the celebrated filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi, who will be in town to present his latest film, the award-winning Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease. The film depicts the anguish one doctor faces after contracting a serious disease while taking care of patients. Fest info: www.polfilmfestival.com or 488-3255 or 489-6010. In another national cinema, the 18th annual Japanese Film Festival will unspool this week at the Frank Adams Auditorium at McGill University (3450 University). The fest features a mere two films: Furuhata Yasuo's Station, which screens tonight, Thursday, Nov. 23 and Okawara Takao's Abduction on Friday, Nov. 24 (both at 7:30 p.m.). The former film is a meditation on fate that involves the episodes in the life of a police officer. The latter, from the director of the last four Godzilla films, is an action-packed gigantic chase sequence, shot throughout Tokyo, as police attempt to foil a kidnapping plot by criminals demanding millions of yen in ransom. Both films screen in original Japanese with English subtitles and are free. Local filmmakers Ernest Webb and Neil Diamond examine a fascinating documentary in their hour-long movie Cree Spoken Here. In the film, which airs on the Aboriginal People's Television Network (APTN), the renewal of the Cree language, which was suppressed in schools for a generation, is brought to light. The filmmakers show how the loss of language often led to a loss of identity for native people and how the teaching of Cree in schools is helping young natives to gain a greater sense of their history. The show airs on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Yes, you do get APTN, though you might not know it. The station, which has been up and running for about a year, hasn't received a lot of publicity, but is facilitating a great deal of filmmaking by new aboriginal artists. A publicist called me up to right a wrong in my review of Under Suspicion, which ran last week. I wrote that the producers of the film appeared to be a bit embarrassed by the film at its World Film Fest premiere, as they held their star duo press conference, featuring Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman, during the film's screening (meaning critics couldn't actually see the film without missing the press event). Apparently, the scheduling screwup was the fault of the festival itself and by no means intentional on the producers' part. Cinéma du Parc's Goya in Bordeaux has reportedly broken the rep house's own box-office record. The film continues this week! COMMENTS: mhays@mtl-mirror.com