This episode starts on a low note. The grades are posted from the students’ first test – and almost everyone’s failed.

A moment later, Ellie says, “People said I was stupid… I started believing it. I started becoming it.”

In Episode One, almost every kid in the school said they didn’t study or that they didn’t care – in effect striving for failure… to be the person that they think everyone thinks they are.

They were reaffirming themselves as stereotypical dropouts. Ironic as Soledad O’Brien, their teacher this week, immediately digs into the question of, what do people assume about you when they look at you? And then she asks, “who are you really?” – and the answers are diametrically different from the previous ones.

When I first heard about DREAM SCHOOL – I’m not going to lie – I was skeptical. I might have even rolled my eyes. I mean, high school dropouts being taught by celebrities? “What will be taught – and who will be the teachers?” I wondered. Would Britney Spears teach an auto-tune music class? Would Professor Kim Kardashian teach elocution or videography? Or would Miley Cyrus hold court on sex education? My mind boggled.

Never did Sofia Coppola’s signature formula (angst, angst and more angst) feel so genuine and honest as in LOST IN TRANSLATION, one of our featured films this week. It’s the film that helped bring depth and drama to Bill Murray, and put Scarlet Johansson on the map. Now if only there was some way to have fun while stuck in dull and boring Tokyo…

See more of our featured selections this week below!

Don't miss one of the most unique and mindbending thrillers of the past decade – BLACK SWAN – this week on Sundance Channel. Nina (Natalie Portman) is perfect for the role of the White Swan in <em>Swan Lake</em>, but when rival Lily (Mila Kunis) arrives, Nina begins to lose all perspective. Don't even blink, because by the end, you won't know what's real and what isn't.

Check out BLACK SWAN and the rest of our featured lineup this week!

You like Nicolas Cage? Well, we’ve got Nicolas Cage at his Nicolas Cagey-est this week in two crime thrillers playing slightly off-kilter bad guys on opposite sides of the law (yes, one’s a cop!). If you’re in the mood for something a little more uplifting, we’ve also got a journey of cultural discovery and a Baz Luhrmann musical to maintain balance in our universe.

This week, Kathryn Bigelow takes us deep inside the Iraq War in THE HURT LOCKER, her tense Oscar-winning thriller that shows the chaos of that conflict. But don’t worry – if watching army grunts doing their army stuff isn’t your thing, we’ve also got Christian Bale’s major debut, Jake Gyllenhaal trying to catch an infamous criminal, and more!

Sundance Channel announced today that it has acquired US broadcast rights to the supernatural drama THE RETURNED from Music Box Films. The eight-part French series distributed by Zodiak Rights was created by Fabrice Gobert and is based on the feature film Les Revenants by Robin Campillo. It will premiere on Sundance Channel on Halloween, Thursday, October 31st at 9PM ET/PT. It will air every Thursday night at 9PM.

The critically received series was a smash hit for France’s Canal+ and the UK’s Channel 4. The New York Times recently profiled outstanding foreign drama series and pronounced it “fresh and unexpected.” The Independent wrote “THE RETURNED…is actually one of the greatest, creepiest, most compelling shows brought to…TV screens in 2013,” and The Daily Telegraph commented, “Probably the most stylish thing you’ll see on TV this year.”

Take a trip through the mind of Hunter S. Thompson this week in Terry Gilliam’s mindbending adaptation of the gonzo journalist’s three day drug-fueled assignment to cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race in Las Vegas. But have no fear (or loathing) – if Johnny Depp’s not your style, we’re featuring other great films with stars you love to watch from George Clooney to Kathleen Turner.

New York, NY – August 27, 2013 –Sundance Channel takes a fresh look at the fashion industry in four all-new specials featuring ELLE Creative Director Joe Zee, beginning with REVEALING: EXTRAVAGANCE, airing Friday, September 20th at 10 pm ET/PT. In the first installment, Zee examines how an obsession with luxury has become an addiction for modern society. Through a compelling and in-depth investigation of a real life Bling Ring, a gang of high-end thieves (‘The Rainbow Girls’), insider interviews and consumer experiments, Zee uncovers what our fixation with luxury brands means.

Accessorized with commentary from a high-end list of fashion contributors including: model, actress and entrepreneur Iman; fashion designers Zac Posen, Narciso Rodriguez and Carolina Herrera; Editorial Director of nymag.com’s The Cut Stella Bugbee; models Kiara Kabukuru, China Machado and Andrej Pejic; historians David Eisenbach and Valerie Steele; psychologist April Benson; and luxury market expert Pamela Danziger, the first hour-long special stages three amusing yet revealing social experiments that place subjects at the mercy of luxury items and exposes their impact both physically and emotionally.

This week goes up to 11 with the mockumentary – or, if you will, “rockumentary” – that started it all, spawning a new film genre and influencing Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel) to make such later films as WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, BEST IN SHOW and FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION. Check it out this Sunday night, and take a look at what else we’ve got in store for our film blocks this week.