| Nationality: | British, American |
| Known For: | Buzkashi Boys, Tom vs Time, Breaking2, Kobe Bryant's Muse[1] |
| Occupation: | Film director, film producer, screenwriter |
| Years Active: | 2009 - present |
| Alma Mater: | University of Southern California (MFA, Cinema-Television, 2008) Somerville College, Oxford (B.A., Classics, 2001) |
Martin Desmond Roe is a British-American film and television director, writer, and producer.[2] [1] He is best known for Buzkashi Boys (2012),[3] [4] Kobe Bryant's Muse (2015),[5] [6] Breaking2 (2017),[2] [7] [8] Tom vs Time (2018),[9] and We are the Champions (2020).[10] [11] [12] Roe is the founder and Creative Director of Dirty Robber, a Los Angeles–based production company.[6]
Martin Roe's short film Two Distant Strangers was met with critical acclaim; at the 93rd Academy Awards, it received the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.[13] [14]
Born in Bristol, England,[15] Roe studied Latin and Ancient Greek at Somerville College, Oxford,[16] graduating in 2001 with a BA in Classics. He moved to Los Angeles and entered the USC School of Cinematic Arts, earning an MFA in Cinema and Television in 2008.[17] [18]
Roe became interested in filmmaking and storytelling while staging plays during his time at Oxford. After finishing USC film school he founded Dirty Robber, a production company.[16] His first major success came in 2012 when Roe co-wrote the screenplay for Buzkashi Boys, a short film that was directed by Sam French.[4] Written in a week, on location in Kabul, Afghanistan, the film was inspired by the true life story of Fawad Mohammidi,[19] a homeless 14 year old street vendor and explored his friendship with another boy and their love for the traditional horse sport Buzkashi.[4] Buzkashi Boys gained critical acclaim[20] [21] winning numerous film festival awards,[22] [23] [24] and was nominated for the 2013 Best Live Action Short Film at the Academy Awards.[3]
In 2017, after directing a number of commercials for Nike, Inc.,[25] Roe was invited as creative lead on Breaking2 sports documentary, a joint project of Nike and National Geographic in association with Dirty Robber.[26] The documentary short followed three world class athletes, Eliud Kipchoge, Lelisa Desisa, and Zersenay Tadese as they attempted to run a marathon in under two hours.[8] [27] Breaking2 won several awards in advertising industry[28] [29] including a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.[30] Roe also took part as an executive producer of 6 episodes for Tom vs Time, a collaborative web television series project directed by Gotham Chopra, which won Emmy Award for Outstanding Serialized Sports Documentary (NBC Sports).[9] In 2020, he co-directed the short film Two Distant Strangers, about police killings in the United States, which stars Joey Bada$$ and Andrew Howard, and which won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 2021.[31]
In 2023, Roe co-directed alongside Travon Free, BS High a documentary for HBO, revolving around the Bishop Sycamore High School scandal.[32] [33]
Roe is an owner and creative director of Dirty Robber Productions, a Los Angeles-based company with the focus on documentaries, T.V series, shows and sports events. Among Dirty Robber's most notable productions are Religion of Sports,[34] [35] Tom vs Time,[36] Kobe Bryant’s Muse (in collaboration with Kobe Inc.),[37] [38] Why We Fight (ESPN+), Wiz Khalifa: Behind the Cam (DIRECTV),[39] and We are the Champions, a documentary series about various contests and sports traditions.[6] [40]
| 2023 | BS High | Co-director | Documentary film | |
| 2020 | Two Distant Strangers | Co-director | Short[41] | |
| 2020 | We are the Champions | Executive producer (6 episodes) Director (2 episodes) | TV documentary series | |
| 2019 | Wiz Khalifa: Behind the Cam | Director (5 episodes) | TV documentary mini-series | |
| 2019 | Why We Fight | Executive producer (15 episodes) | TV documentary series | |
| 2018 | Shut Up and Dribble | Executive producer (3 episodes) | TV documentary series[42] | |
| 2018 | Tom vs Time | Executive producer (6 episodes) | Documentary web television series (Emmy Award Winner) | |
| 2017 | Breaking2 | Director | TV movie documentary Cannes Gold Lions Winner Co-production of National Geographic Studios and Dirty Robber Productions[43] | |
| 2017 | Uninterrupted Presents | Executive producer (2 episodes) | TV series documentary | |
| 2016 | Religion of Sports | Executive producer (18 episodes) Director Writer | TV series documentary[44] [45] | |
| 2015 | Kobe Bryant's Muse | Producer | TV movie documentary | |
| 2012 | Buzkashi Boys | Co-producer Co-writer | Short |