Late 17th Century: Anne de Grandcamp and Lucie de Fontenelle, two little girls from Normandy, arrive at the Saint-Cyr school founded by Madame de Maintenon for educating the daughters of impoverished nobles ruined in wars and making them into free women. Madame de Maintenon is the secret wife of Louis XIV, and empowered by his support, she offers "her" two hundred fifty girls a playful and avant-garde education. Anne and Lucie, two inseparable friends, allow themselves to be carried away by the promise of a bright future. But Maintenon has arrived at the pinnacle of power through scheming and debasing herself and she now fears the fires of hell. She is counting on her model school to atone for her past sins.
Set in the 1650s Mughal Era, Veera Mallu, a Robin Hood-like outlaw with secret motives is hired to steal the Koh-i-Noor from Aurangzeb’s palace. He is joined by a crew of misfits, each talented in their own way, to complete the mission.
Port of Seville, Spain, 1640. A group of people from very different origins embark on the ship Capitana. They are members of the upper class, adventurers, peasants, convicts, who have only one thing in common: the illusion of arriving in America, the promised land where they can make their dreams and ambitions come true.
The Ceddo people try to preserve their traditional African culture against the onslaught of Islam, Christianity, and the slave trade. When King Demba War sides with the Muslims, the Ceddo kidnap his daughter, Princess Dior Yacine, to protest their forcible conversion to Islam.
In the 17th century, the Netherlands experienced an unprecedented artistic explosion: painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals were so prolific that they were able to make a living from their talent alone; so much so that, within a prosperous society, thanks to wealth from overseas colonies and financial speculation, collecting works of art became a status symbol.
A man ahead of his time, Cyrano de Bergerac dazzles whether with ferocious wordplay at a verbal joust or with brilliant swordplay in a duel. But, convinced that his appearance renders him unworthy of the love of a devoted friend, the luminous Roxanne, Cyrano has yet to declare his feelings for her—and Roxanne has fallen in love, at first sight, with Christian.
In Tokugawa-era (1637) Shimabara, oppressed peasant Christians revolt against the shogunate with the aid of charismatic Christian rebel leader Shiro Amakusa.
During the Mayflower pilgrims' long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean on their way to America, Captain Christopher Jones falls in love with William Bradford's wife Dorothy.
Tragicomic road movie set during the Edo period. It follows a samurai, his two servants – including spear-carrier Genpachi – and the various people they meet on their journey, including a policeman in pursuit of a thief, a young child and a woman who is to be sold into prostitution.
Ancient Korea, 17th century. While the paranoid King Lee Jo of Joseon, vassal of the Qing dynasty, feels surrounded by conspirators and rebels, a dark evil emerges from the bowels of a merchant ship and the exiled Prince Lee Cheung returns to the royal court, ignoring that he will have to lead the few capable of defeating the ambitious humans and the bloody monsters who threaten to destroy the kingdom.
In 17th-century Japan, two Portuguese Jesuit priests seek their mentor, who is rumoured to have committed apostasy, and to propagate Catholicism.
In 1647, the impoverished noble Václav Rynda shelters an imperial commissioner-only to learn the visitors are French agents plotting a Bohemian revolt against the Habsburgs.
After the death of their father, two siblings are raised by their father's best friend. However, when one gets kidnapped just before her wedding, the other rises against the Manchus.
In the 17th century, two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor, who is rumored to have committed apostasy, and to propagate Catholicism.
King Louis XIII of France is thrilled to have born to him a son - an heir to the throne. But when the queen delivers a twin, Cardinal Richelieu sees the second son as a potential for revolution, and has him sent off to Spain to be raised in secret to ensure a peaceful future for France. Alas, keeping the secret means sending Constance, lover of D'Artagnan, off to a convent. D'Artagnan hears of this and rallies the Musketeers in a bid to rescue her. Unfortunately, Richelieu out-smarts the Musketeers and banishes them forever.
For many Americans, the journey of the Mayflower symbolizes the birth of their nation. To this day, the Pilgrim Fathers are a glorified symbol of American virtue. In search of autonomy and with the desire to preserve their cultural identity, a group of English Puritans left their Dutch refuge in 1620 to set off for the New World. That voyage is not just a tale of a religious community bravely going their own way; the events of those days would have a major impact on the course of modern history. The rules and regulations of the Mayflower Compact that the Pilgrim Fathers, religious sectarians, abided by, became the secular prototype for the constitution of the United States of America; a social contract that would serve as an example for many other national constitutions during the European age of civil society and thereafter.
An ex-soldier turned highwayman uncovers a plot to take control of England from King Charles II.
The Defenestration of Prague, which took place on May 23, 1618, was the decisive historical moment that unleashed the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) between several Catholic and Protestant states and changed the course of European history forever. (Additionally released as a heavely edited historical documentary entitled The Defenestration of Prague, 85 min.)
The dramatic story of two youths--one French and one Indigenous--who share a pivotal time in Canada's history: the first contact between European and First Nations peoples.
Cardinal Mazarin dies, leaving a power vacuum in which the young Louis asserts his intention to govern as well as rule. Mazarin's fiscal advisor, Colbert, warns against Fouquet, the Superintendant who has been systematically looting the treasury and wants to be prime minister. Fouquet believes Louis will soon tire of exercizing power and overplays his hand by offering a bribe to Louis' mistress to be his ally. She reports this to the king who arrests Fouquet. Louis and Colbert design a brilliant strategy to keep merchants making money, nobles in debt, the urban poor working and fed, and peasants untaxed.