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 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]

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.^[3][40]