List of Canadian films of 1981
This is a list of Canadian films which were released in 1981:
| Title | Director | Cast | Genre | Notes |
| Alligator Shoes | Clay Borris | Clay Borris, Garry Borris, Ronalda Jones | Drama | |
| The Amateur | Charles Jarrott | John Savage, Christopher Plummer, Marthe Keller, Arthur Hill | Drama | |
| ' | Norma Bailey, Robert Lower | Documentary | ||
| A Choice of Two | John Howe | Alexandra Bastedo, Mavor Moore, Leslie Nielsen, Gary Reineke | Drama | |
| Circle of Two | Jules Dassin | Richard Burton, Tatum O’Neal, Patricia Collins, Kate Reid | Drama | Dassin's last film; novel by Marie-Térèse Baird |
| Crac | Frédéric Back | Animated | ||
| The Devil at Your Heels | Robert Fortier | Ken Carter | Documentary | |
| Dirty Tricks | Alvin Rakoff | Elliott Gould, Kate Jackson, Arthur Hill, Rich Little, John Juliani | Comedy | |
| Elvis Gratton | Pierre Falardeau | Julien Poulin | Short | Genie Award – Theatrical Short |
| Firebird 2015 AD | David Robertson | Darren McGavin, Doug McClure | Futuristic drama | |
| First Winter | John N. Smith | National Film Board dramatic short | Academy Award nominee | |
| Gas | Les Rose | Philip Akin, Susan Anspach | Comedy | |
| Ghostkeeper | Jim Makichuk | Horror | ||
| Happy Birthday to Me | J. Lee Thompson | Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, Lawrence Dane, Sharon Acker | Slasher film | |
| Happy Memories | Francis Mankiewicz | Monique Spaziani, Paul Hébert, R. H. Thomson, Julie Vincent | Drama | |
| Heartaches | Donald Shebib | Margot Kidder. Annie Potts, Robert Carradine, Winston Rekert | Drama | Genie Award – Screenplay, Actress, Foreign Actress |
| Heartbreak High | Mark Warren | Comedy | ||
| Heavy Metal | Gerald Potterton | Voices of Jackie Burroughs, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Don Francks, Eugene Levy, Al Waxman | Feature animation; based on the French fantasy magazine of the same name | Genie Award – Sound, Golden Reel Award |
| The High Country | Harvey Hart | Timothy Bottoms, Linda Purl | Drama | |
| The Hot Touch | Roger Vadim | Crime comedy | ||
| Imagine the Sound | Ron Mann | Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Bill Dixon and Paul Bley | Feature documentary | A film that focuses on four musicians of the free jazz movement. |
| Improper Channels | Eric Till | Alan Arkin, Mariette Hartley | Comedy | Genie Award– Foreign Actor |
| The Incubus | John Hough | Horror | ||
| Just Another Missing Kid | John Zaritsky | Documentary | Academy Award for Documentary Feature | |
| Kings and Desperate Men | Alexis Kanner | Patrick McGoohan, Alexis Kanner, Margaret Trudeau | Drama | Featuring Margaret Trudeau, the ex-wife of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. |
| Mr. Patman | John Guillermin | James Coburn, Kate Nelligan, Fionnula Flanagan, Les Carlson | Drama | |
| My Bloody Valentine | George Mihalka | Paul Kelman, Don Francks, Cynthia Dale | Slasher film | Shot in Cape Breton Island coal mines |
| Off the Wall | Derek May | Documentary | ||
| The Pit | Lew Lehman | Horror | ||
| The Plouffe Family | Gilles Carle | Émile Genest, Juliette Huot, Denise Filiatrault, Gabriel Arcand | Drama based on the novel by Roger Lemelin | |
| Porky's | Bob Clark | Dan Monahan, Mark Herrier, Wyatt Knight, Roger Wilson, Kim Cattrall, Susan Clark | Teen comedy | Golden Reel Award; made with U.S. financing |
| ' | Janis Cole & Holly Dale | Documentary | Genie Award – Theatrical Documentary | |
| Quest for Fire | Jean-Jacques Annaud | Drama | ||
| Rubberface | Glen Salzman, Rebecca Yates | Jim Carrey | Comedy | |
| The Running Man | Donald Brittain | Chuck Shamata, Barbara Gordon, Colm Feore, Kate Trotter | Drama | |
| Scanners | David Cronenberg | Michael Ironside, Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane | Horror/Sci-Fi | |
| Silence of the North | Allan King | Ellen Burstyn, Tom Skerritt, Gordon Pinsent | Drama | Genie Award – Cinematography |
| Stade 81 | Jaco Van Dormael | Documentary | ||
| Surfacing | Claude Jutra | Joseph Bottoms, R. H. Thomson, Kathleen Beller, Michael Ironside | Drama | Adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel |
| The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin | Janet Perlman | National Film Board animated short | Academy Award nominee | |
| Threshold | Richard Pearce | Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum, John Marley, Sharon Acker, Mare Winningham, Mavor Moore | Medical drama | Genie Award – Actor, Cinematography |
| Ticket to Heaven | Ralph L. Thomas | Saul Rubinek, R. H. Thomson, Nick Mancuso, Meg Foster, Kim Cattrall, Jennifer Dale | Cult drama | |
| Tulips | Rex Bromfield | Gabe Kaplan, Bernadette Peters, Henry Gibson, Al Waxman | Comedy, drama | |
| Violet | Shelley Levinson | Didi Conn | Short drama | |
| A War Story | Anne Wheeler | Docudrama | ||
| Yesterday | Lawrence Kent | Vincent Van Patten, Claire Pimparé | Drama | |
| Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid | George Kaczender | Richard Harris, Jennifer Dale, George Peppard, Jeanne Moreau, Winston Rekert, Alexandra Stewart | Drama | |
| Zea | André Leduc, Jean-Jacques Leduc | Non-fiction short |