This is a list of Canadian films which were released in 1981:
| Title | Director | Cast | Genre | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64,000,000 Years Ago | Bill Maylone | National Film Board animated short | |||
| Alligator Shoes | Drama | ||||
| The Amateur | Drama | ||||
| Being Different | Documentary | ||||
| Norma Bailey, Robert Lower | Documentary | ||||
| A Choice of Two | John Howe | Drama | |||
| Circle of Two | Drama | ||||
| Crac | Animated | ||||
| The Devil at Your Heels | Documentary | ||||
| Dirty Tricks | Comedy | ||||
| Elvis Gratton | Short | Genie Award – Theatrical Short | |||
| Firebird 2015 AD | David Robertson | Futuristic drama | |||
| First Winter | Kathleen McAuliffe, Sharon O'Neill, Eric Patrick Godfrey, Kevin Kennedy | National Film Board dramatic short | Academy Award nominee | ||
| Gas | Les Rose | Comedy | |||
| Ghostkeeper | Jim Makichuk | Horror | |||
| Happy Birthday to Me | |||||
| Happy Memories (Les Beaux souvenirs) | Drama | ||||
| Heartaches | Drama | Genie Award – Screenplay, Actress (Kidder), Foreign Actress (Potts) | |||
| Heartbreak High | Mark Warren | Comedy | |||
| Heavy Metal | Feature animation; based on the French fantasy magazine of the same name | Genie Award – Sound, Golden Reel Award | |||
| The High Country | Drama | ||||
| The Hot Touch | Crime comedy | ||||
| Imagine the Sound | Feature documentary | A film that focuses on four musicians of the free jazz movement. | |||
| Improper Channels | Comedy | Genie Award– Foreign Actor (Arkin) | |||
| The Incubus | Horror | ||||
| Just Another Missing Kid | Documentary | Academy Award for Documentary Feature | |||
| Kings and Desperate Men | Drama | Featuring Margaret Trudeau, the ex-wife of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. | |||
| Mr. Patman | Drama | ||||
| My Bloody Valentine | Slasher film | Shot in Cape Breton Island coal mines | |||
| Nose and Tina | Documentary | ||||
| National Film Board documentary | |||||
| Off the Wall | Documentary | ||||
| The Olden Days Coat | Drama, Christmas | ||||
| The Pit | Lew Lehman | Horror | |||
| The Plouffe Family (Les Plouffe) | |||||
| Porky's | Teen comedy | Golden Reel Award
| |||
| Documentary | Genie Award – Theatrical Documentary | ||||
| Quest for Fire | Drama | ||||
| Rubberface | Glen Salzman, Rebecca Yates | Comedy | |||
| The Running Man | Drama | ||||
| Scanners | Horror/Sci-Fi | ||||
| Silence of the North | Ellen Burstyn, Tom Skerritt, Gordon Pinsent | Drama | Genie Award – Cinematography | ||
| Stade 81 | Documentary | ||||
| Surfacing | Drama | Adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel | |||
| The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin | National Film Board animated short | Academy Award nominee | |||
| Threshold | Medical drama | Genie Award – Actor (Sutherland), Cinematography | |||
| Ticket to Heaven | Cult drama | ||||
| Top Priority | Walter Massey, Vlasta Vrana, Maureen Hill, Paula Mazzone | Animated short | |||
| Tulips | Comedy, drama | ||||
| Violet | Shelley Levinson | Short drama | |||
| A War Story | Docudrama | ||||
| Yesterday | Drama | ||||
| Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid | Drama | ||||
| Zea | Non-fiction short |