SAIC Student Filmmaker Joe Houlberg Receives Praise From the Chicago Reader

SAIC student Joe Houlberg (MFA 2017) made the cover of the Reader's Agenda, with film critic J.R. Jones profiling the MFA candidate and his emerging career in the U.S. Houlberg, who debuted his horror film Thirst at this year's Chicago Latino Film Festival, came to SAIC to expand the film career he began his native Ecuador. In the article, he says he picked the program because "it allowed him to chart an eclectic course of study instead of repeating basic production classes he didn't need."

Jones called Thirst "a languidly paced psychological study of four young friends" and writes that this is only the beginning for the 30-year-old filmmaker. "Once Thirst has screened at the Chicago Latino fest—Houlberg will attend both shows," says Jones, "he'll turn his attention to the movie's general release in Ecuador, scheduled for this summer, and to two other features he's been writing, an 'ironic comedy' and another low-budget drama for a small cast."