Era: Early Medieval
5th Century – 11th Century
Many of the first great empires break up, resulting in large migrations of peoples exporting new ideas. Centers of learning and industry solidify in Asia, the Americas create monumental architecture, and Europe is locked in feudal quarreling. Some of the highlights of this era include Persia’s Sassanid Empire, China’s Tang and Song dynasties, and the Maya and Toltecs in America.
Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia (Curse of the Golden Flower)
- Director: Yimou Zhang
- Release Date: 2006
- Production Country: Hong Kong, China
The Emperor returns to his palace to celebrate the Chong Yang festival with his family, but the cloud of golden chrysanthemums that blankets the palace hides multiple intrigues, illicit affairs, and far too many secrets. One secret will destroy true lovers, while another turns out to be far from secret, bringing down a prince, all the while lives are lost and fortunes ruined and still the chrysanthemums bloom.
Marketa Lazarová
- Director: František Vláčil
- Release Date: 1967
- Production Country: Czechoslovakia
A young girl on her way to a convent is abducted and becomes a pawn in a battle between pagan nobles and their newly Christian king.
Milarepa
- Director: Neten Chokling
- Release Date: 2006
- Production Country: Bhutan
The young Thopanga and his mother and sister are stripped of their wealth and position and forced to work in the fields, becoming the laughingstock of their village, when they are betrayed by the uncle who was supposed to care for them until Thopanga comes of age. Vowing that he will revenge his family's downfall, Thopanga's opportunity comes when his mother secretly arranges for him to study with a lama learned in the black arts and sorcery—however, he discovers too late that vengeance, no matter how carefully planned, is rarely neatly delivered.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- Director: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
- Release Date: 1974
- Production Country: United Kingdom
The air speed of African swallows and uppity peasants are the least of King Arthur's worries as he and his knights search for the Holy Grail.
Mulan
- Director: Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook
- Release Date: 1998
- Production Country: United States
In China during the 5th century CE, a young girl takes her father's place in the army and becomes a hero.
Muyeong geom (Shadowless Sword)
- Director: Young-jun Kim
- Release Date: 2005
- Production Country: South Korea, United States
In a conquered kingdom, the search is on for an exiled prince; but while the new rulers seek to destroy any possibility of future rebellions, one loyal retainer sends out a young swordswoman to find and convince the resentful royal heir to take on a dangerous and possibly fatal journey for a land that rejected him years ago.
Ofelas (Pathfinder or Veiviseren)
- Director: Nils Gaup
- Release Date: 1987
- Production Country: Norway
Algin agrees to guide enemy warriors to his people's main village in order to save the shaman of their tribe, but has secret plans to revenge the warriors' murder of his family.
Ogú y Mampato en Rapa Nui (Ogu and Mampato in Rapa Nui)
- Director: Alejandro Rojas
- Release Date: 2002
- Production Country: Chile
With Ogu, his caveman friend, Mampato time travels to the ancient world of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), where they meet a young girl who teaches them about the traditional culture and history of her people and eventually draws Mampato and Ogu into the islanders' battle for freedom from an overbearing, supernaturally powered king.
Prince of Jutland (Royal Deceit)
- Director: Gabriel Axel
- Release Date: 1994
- Production Country: Netherlands, United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Germany
The original Danish source material for Hamlet informs this story of a Danish prince who must regain his rightful throne after his uncle murders his father and marries his mother.
Raja Harishchandra (King Harishchandra)
- Director: Dhundiraj Govind Phalke
- Release Date: 1913
- Production Country: India
After inadvertently disturbing the Sage Vishwamritra, King Harishchandra promises before the gods to make amends, and does so by giving his entire kingdom to the Sage. When that fails to discharge King Harishchandra's debt, the only possessions of value remaining to the King are his wife and children—and his devotion to duty and truth.
Satya Harishchandra
- Director: Hunsur Krishnamurthy
- Release Date: 1965
- Production Country: India
Having promised to give the Sage Vishvamitra his entire kingdom, King Harishchandra must decide between his duty and his people; but can a man live an honorable life when the gods make unreasonable demands of him?
Shi san tai bao (The Heroic Ones)
- Director: Cheh Chang
- Release Date: 1970
- Production Country: Hong Kong
Internal rivalries hamper a Tang general and his thirteen "sons" in their attempts to fight off invading armies.
Simón del desierto (Simon of the Desert)
- Director: Luis Buñuel
- Release Date: 1965
- Production Country: Mexico
After spending six years, six months, and six days standing on a pillar to demonstrate his devotion to God, the ascetic monk Simon is rewarded: with a taller pillar. But with Simon's ascension to greater heights also come greater challenges to his determination to ignore the world, including a lovely, shapely Satan.
Stara baśń: Kiedy słońce było bogiem (An Ancient Tale: When the Sun Was a God or Army of Valhalla)
- Director: Jerzy Hoffman
- Release Date: 2003
- Production Country: Poland
In the pre-Christian land that later becomes Poland, a general and a wanderer fight a corrupt king who doesn't want to hand over the throne to its rightful heir.
The 13th Warrior
- Director: John McTiernan
- Release Date: 1999
- Production Country: United States
Banished from Baghdad, former court poet Ahmad ibn Fadlan falls in with a company of vulgar, coarse, and unwashed Vikings. When they decide he is their "13th warrior," Ahmad is forced to set out on a journey he never intended to make and from which he cannot expect to return.
The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language
- Director: Robert Bee, David Thomas
- Release Date: 2002
- Production Country: United Kingdom
After 1,500 years of the English language, this intriguing documentary answers perplexing questions about linguistics, such as where the silent 'b' in 'lamb' comes from, as well as explores the differences between modern versions of English.
The Ceremony of Innocence
- Director: Ken Rockefeller, Arthur Allan Seidelman
- Release Date: 1970
- Production Country: United States
England faces invasion and King Aethelred must decide whether to make war or peace.
The Message
- Director: Moustapha Akkad
- Release Date: 1977
- Production Country: Lebanon, Libya, Kuwait, Morocco, United Kingdom
A merchant receives a divine message of unification to solve the social injustice and discord between the local tribes, but he is driven from his home when he tries to share this message with his neighbors. His uncle and stepbrother are witnesses to the success of his message in the world, a message that eventually unifies the Arabian peninsula under one religious banner and leads to their army's triumphant return to Mecca in the company of the Prophet of God.
The Pillars of the Earth
- Director: Sergio Mimica-Gezzan
- Release Date: 2010
- Production Country: Germany, Canada
In the 12th century town of Kingsbridge, England, Tom Builder convinces the prior to build a cathedral, while, beyond the town, England is convulsed in civil war and the quarry where the stone to fulfill Tom’s dream is under the control of an Earl who supports the upstart Queen. Over a lifetime, the fortunes of the families in the town (noble born and common, gentry and artisan), their place in the land, and their alliances with the varying sides of the civil war will all be part of the story of the cathedral's stone walls that rise above the town.
The Queen of Tibet (Wencheng Gongzhu)
- Director: Wu Fa Shen
- Release Date: 1986
- Production Country: Hong Kong
The Tang emperor's niece marries the king of Tibet and converts the country to Buddhism in 7th century CE.