| K-9 and Company | John Black | science fiction | United Kingdom |
| The Christening Party | Zdeněk Podskalský | comedy film | Czechoslovakia |
| Land of Silence and Darkness | Werner Herzog | documentary film | Germany |
| Buddy Buddy | Billy Wilder | buddy film | United Kingdom, United States |
| Wahadelko | Filip Bajon | drama film | Poland |
 The Little Fox | Attila Dargay | drama film, fantasy film, children's film | Hungary |
| The Fox and the Hound | Richard Rich, Art Stevens, Ted Berman | coming-of-age film, drama film, family film, buddy film, comedy drama | United States |
| Train spécial pour SS | Alain Payet | drama film, sexploitation film, thriller film, war film, Nazi exploitation | France |
| Varning för Jönssonligan | Jonas Cornell | crime comedy film | Sweden, Denmark |
| They Were Actors | Georgi Natanson | adventure film, war film | Soviet Union |
| Chōkō | Masashi Sada | documentary film | People's Republic of China, Japan |
| Kočičí princ | Ota Koval | cinematic fairy tale, children's film | East Germany, Germany, Czechoslovakia |
| The Last Metro | François Truffaut | romance film, art film, drama film, war film | France |
| Blue Collar | Paul Schrader | drama film, detective film, crime film | United States |
| Za trnkovým keřem | Václav Gajer | family film, children's film, adventure film | Czechoslovakia |
| Prema Mandiram | Dasari Narayana Rao | — | India |
| Full Circle | Richard Loncraine | horror film, ghost film | United Kingdom, Canada |
| Pixote | Héctor Babenco | drama film, LGBTQ-related film, crime film | Brazil |
 Herbie Goes Bananas | Vincent McEveety | comedy film, children's film | United States |
| Zeppelin | Lasse Glomm | drama film | Norway |
| Julia Julia | Petter Vennerød, Svend Wam | comedy film | Norway |
 Blow Out | Brian De Palma | psychological thriller film, political thriller film, police procedural film, suspense film, crime drama film, mystery film, drama film, action film, crime thriller film, neo-noir, thriller film, independent film+2 | United States |
| Dr. Slump and Arale-chan: Hello! Wonder Island | Minoru Okazaki | — | Japan |
 Lenin in Paris | Leonid Eidlin, Sergei Yutkevich | drama film, historical film, biographical film | Soviet Union |
| Father and Son | Allen Fong | drama film, family drama film | Hong Kong |
| The Howling | Joe Dante | horror film, werewolf film | United States |
| Chariots of Fire | Hugh Hudson | drama film, sport film, historical film, biographical film | United Kingdom, Australia |
| SOPOR | Tage Danielsson | comedy film | Sweden |
| Amy | Vincent McEveety | drama film | United States |
| Doraemon: The Records of Nobita, Spaceblazer | Hideo Nishimaki | — | Japan |
| Swan Lake | Kimio Yabuki | fantasy anime and manga, children's film, adventure film | Japan |
| El vicario de Olot | Ventura Pons | comedy film | Spain |
| The Devil and Max Devlin | Steven Hilliard Stern | fantasy film | United States |
| My Father Is an Idealist | Vladimir Bortko | romance film | Soviet Union |
 A Change of Seasons | Noel Black, Richard Lang | drama film, comedy film | United States |
| The Elephant Man | David Lynch | drama film, biographical film | United States |
| Twenty Six Days from the Life of Dostoyevsky | Aleksandr Zarkhi | romance film, biographical film | Soviet Union |
| Security Unlimited | Michael Hui | comedy film, slapstick | Hong Kong |
| Brubaker | Bob Rafelson, Stuart Rosenberg | drama film, prison film | United States |
| Waiter, Scarper! | Ladislav Smoljak | comedy film | Czechoslovakia |
| Absence of Malice | Sydney Pollack | drama film, crime film | United States |
| Alexander The Small | Vladimir Fokin | drama film, war film | Soviet Union, East Germany |
| An Intimate Story | Nadav Levitan | drama film | Israel |
| Bianco, rosso e Verdone | Carlo Verdone | comedy film | Italy |
| Bumpy | Helle Karis | music-themed film, dance film | Soviet Union, Estonia |
| Burned at the Stake | Bert Ira Gordon | horror film | United States |
| Bustin' Loose | Michael Schultz, Oz Scott | comedy drama | United States |
| Calm | Vitaliy Chetverikov | — | Soviet Union |
| Carbon Copy | Michael Schultz | drama film, comedy drama | United Kingdom, United States |
| Carnival | Tatyana Lioznova | musical film, comedy drama | Soviet Union |
| Contact | Yunus Yusupov | drama film | Soviet Union |
| Continental Divide | Michael Apted | romantic comedy | United States |
| Cutter's Way | Ivan Passer | drama film, crime thriller film | United States |
| Devushka i more | — | comedy film, musical film | Soviet Union |
| E una domenica sera di novembre | Lina Wertmüller | documentary film | Italy |
| Earthbound | James L. Conway | science fiction film, science fiction comedy | United States |
| Egon Schiele – Exzess und Bestrafung | Herbert Vesely | drama film, biographical film | France, Germany, Austria |
| Escape from New York | John Carpenter | post-apocalyptic film, action film, dystopian film, thriller film, science fiction film, prison film | United States |
| Game of Death II | Ng See-yuen | martial arts film, action film | Hong Kong |
| Golden Shoes | — | — | Soviet Union |
| I'm Starting from Three | Massimo Troisi | comedy film | Italy |
| King of the Mountain | Noel Nosseck | teen film, drama film | United States |
| Letter from BAM | Temur Palavandishvili | adventure film | Georgian SSR |
| Lisova pisnya. Mavka | Yuri Ilyenko | drama film | Soviet Union |
| Little Bear | Vyacheslav Prokopenko | family film | Soviet Union |
| Longing for My Native Country | Wang Jin, Hu Bingliu | drama film | People's Republic of China |
| Man of Iron | Andrzej Wajda | drama film, historical film | Poland |
| María de mi corazón | Jaime Humberto Hermosillo | drama film, comedy film | Mexico |
| Otpusk za svoy schyot | Viktor Titov, János Bujtás | comedy film | Soviet Union, Hungary |
| Pennies from Heaven | Herbert Ross | romance film, drama film, satanic film, musical film | United States |
| Phra Rod Meree | Sompote Sands | — | Thailand |
| Premabhishekam | Dasari Narayana Rao | — | India |
| Provincial Romance (1981 film) | Melis Ubukeyev | — | Soviet Union |
| Quartet | James Ivory | drama film | France, United Kingdom |
| Radha Kalyanam | Bapu | — | India |
 Raiders of the Lost Ark | Steven Spielberg | action film, treasure hunt film | United States |
| Shaolin Temple Strikes Back | Joseph Kuo | martial arts film, action film | Taiwan |
| Short Working Day | Krzysztof Kieślowski | drama film | Poland |
| Son of the Regiment | Georgy Kuznetsov | drama film, war film | Soviet Union |
| Spaghetti a mezzanotte | Sergio Martino | commedia all'italiana | Italy |
| Stay with You | Igor Voznesensky | drama film | Soviet Union |
| Story of an Unknown Man | Vytautas Žalakevičius | drama film | Soviet Union |
| The Aimed School | Nobuhiko Obayashi | teen film, science fiction film | Japan |
| The Driver for One Trip | Vadim Zobin | comedy film | Soviet Union |
| The Duel of the Century | Chor Yuen | action film | Hong Kong |
| The Fall of Italy | Lordan Zafranović | drama film | Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia |
| The Homeless One | Villi Hermann | drama film | Switzerland |
| The Kiss | Bruno Barreto | drama film | Brazil |
| The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia | Ronald F. Maxwell | musical film | United States |
| The Postman Always Rings Twice | Bob Rafelson | romance film, drama film, neo-noir, crime film | United States |
| The Saimaa Gesture | Aki Kaurismäki, Mika Kaurismäki | documentary film | Finland |
| The Third Hand | — | erotic film | Hong Kong |
| Through Gobi and Khingan | Badrahin Sumhu, Vasili Ordynsky | drama film, war film | Soviet Union, East Germany, Mongolian People's Republic |
| Varavu Nalla Uravu | Visu | drama film | India |
| Vysokyy pereval | Volodymyr Denysenko | drama film | Soviet Union |
| Waitress! | Lloyd Kaufman, Michael Herz | comedy film, sexploitation film | United States |
| Wielka majówka | Krzysztof Rogulski | comedy film | Poland |
| Woman Who Exposes Herself | Masaru Konuma | pink film, pornographic film | Japan |
| Yaroslav Mudry | Hryhorii Kokhan | drama film, historical film | Soviet Union |