Who is he?

A 34-year-old from New York who pulled together a blue-chip cast to star in his directing debut, Lymelife. It's set in 70s Long Island, where Alec Baldwin plays overbearing dad to two of the Culkin clan – Rory and Kieran. Sex and the City's Cynthia Nixon is their neighbour.

Is this yet another coming-of-age indie with a dysfunctional family?

You got it. Rory Culkin is 15-year-old Scott, a geek with an angsty crush on the girl next door. Meanwhile, his family is heading for meltdown.

Sounds like every Sundance film I've ever seen. Why bother?

For a start, the acting is pretty excellent. Alec Baldwin plays a likable git with gusto, and the Culkins (who know a thing about family dysfunction) are superb. Lymelife also comes with a stamp of approval from Martin Scorsese: he's executive producer, having championed Martini since being taken by a no-budget film of his.

What's with the title?

That'll be Lyme disease – an arthritic condition caused by infectious ticks. In the film it reduces Nixon's husband to a quivering wreck. Martini wrote the script with his brother and says that pretty much everything in it happened to them in real life. Including Lyme – a family friend contracted it.

What next?

A screen version of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge and then another script with his brother, about a hitman, The Day Trader. Cath Clarke