Martin Desmond Roe is a British-American film and television director, writer, and producer.[2][3][1] He is best known for Buzkashi Boys (2012),[4][5] Kobe Bryant's Muse (2015),[6][3] 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.[3]
Martin Desmond Roe | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British, American |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California (MFA, Cinema-Television, 2008) Somerville College, Oxford (B.A., Classics, 2001) |
| Occupation | Film director, film producer, screenwriter |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Known for | Buzkashi Boys, Tom vs Time, Breaking2, Kobe Bryant's Muse[1] |
| Website | dirtyrobber |
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.[5] 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.[5] 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.[4]
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]
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,[32][33] Tom vs Time,[34] Kobe Bryant’s Muse (in collaboration with Kobe Inc.),[35][36] Why We Fight (ESPN+), Wiz Khalifa: Behind the Cam (DIRECTV),[37] and We are the Champions, a documentary series about various contests and sports traditions.[3][38]
| Year | Title | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Two Distant Strangers | Co-director | Short[39] |
| 2020 | We are the Champions | Executive producer (6 episodes) Director (2 episodes) |
TV documentary series[2] |
| 2019 | Wiz Khalifa: Behind the Cam | Director (5 episodes) |
TV documentary mini-series[2] |
| 2019 | Why We Fight | Executive producer (15 episodes) |
TV documentary series[27] |
| 2018 | Shut Up and Dribble | Executive producer (3 episodes) |
TV documentary series[40] |
| 2018 | Tom vs Time | Executive producer (6 episodes) |
Documentary web television series (Emmy Award Winner)[9] |
| 2017 | Breaking2 | Director | TV Movie documentary Cannes Gold Lions Winner Co-production of National Geographic Studios and Dirty Robber Productions[8][41] |
| 2017 | Uninterrupted Presents | Executive producer (2 episodes) |
TV Series documentary |
| 2016 | Religion of Sports | Executive producer (18 episodes) Director Writer |
TV Series documentary[42][43] |
| 2015 | Kobe Bryant's Muse | Producer | TV Movie documentary[6] |
| 2012 | Buzkashi Boys | Co-producer Co-writer |
Short |