Introducing Martin Roux, newly admitted DoP to the AFC

Martin Roux and his desire for collegial know-how, by Céline Bozon, AFC
To my mind, Martin Roux is the perfect example of a student who has far surpassed his “master” (I’d like to be able to say “mistress”). This was also the case of Florine Bel, who was also a graduate of Louis-Lumière. I had both of them as my students in different exercises. Martin was in attendance at the presentation of a film by Axelle Ropert, Tirez la langue mademoiselle.

I have been in touch with Martin since the lens tests and discussion entitled "Vers la couleur" that I participated in with Caroline Champetier and which I later relayed on the AFC’s website along with Pierre Cottereau and Thibault Carterot. That was in 2020 and we have continued to have many discussions about lenses, the possibility of postproduction treatments, and the question of the place of the colorist in the fabrication process. We co-organized a round table at the AFC Micro Salon in 2022 on this question.
This generation, unlike ours, was born in the digital age in terms of their education (whence his finesse at performing mathematical analyses of color), but they have a strong affection for film in their cinephilia.
This enables him to have an insane relevance and precision when it comes to color analysis in terms of perception, culture and tools. In cooperation with Paul Morin (cinematographer) and Olivier Patron (DIT), he has developed a LUT fabrication tool that I used on Alain Gomis’ latest film with Laurent Ripoll (colorist) and that I have encouraged him to share with as many people as possible (such as with the AFC).

Martin has a lot to teach us. Moreover, he has a developed political consciousness regarding the economic stakes that are currently affecting laboratories. He also wants to “collegialize” knowledge to enable resistance to industry in its most crushing and dogmatic aspects, which seems to me to be essential today for the creation of images.

Martin Roux, an exciting need to become part of the AFC, by Caroline Champetier, AFC
Martin Roux was in his last year of studies at the ENS Louis-Lumière when I met him. He was finishing a paper entitled "On film aesthetics in the construction of digital cameras" and wanted to interview Jean-Piere Beauviala who was working on the Digital Delta. I mention this to point out the way in which he is absolutely a member of his generation, while also being aware of its paradoxes, which he wishes to investigate.
Ever since, we have worked together on a number of films (he has also seconded Denis Lenoir) and I owe it to him that I began to question the treatment of images in postproduction and what we can legitimately expect from the new labs.

Since 2018, he has appeared in the credits of a dozen films, in which he has affirmed his definite talent, continued to question image treatment, and in which one can detect a true engagement for cinema in all of its forms.
During lockdown, he decided to read all extant publication on color in cinema, including those of Kodak, and when we saw each other again, it seemed imperative to me to share his thoughts with the AFC membership and with all of the residers of our website. The result was the series of publications entitled "Vers la couleur" which had quite some impact and made a number of us aware of things we hadn’t previously thought of before.

For Martin, technical know-how is the opposite of a private domain ; it is a place of sharing in which everyone must challenge and enrich. Additionally, he has an entrepreneurial spirit, which has led him to found a company in which a DoP, a DIT and a colorist have pooled their inventiveness to create a tool that allows for the emulation of color curves for films in production and restoration. I just tested it out on the restoration of Pola X, by Leos Carax, cinematography by Eric Gautier, and it made our work so much easier. Martin has also participated in the AFC’s lens tests twice, and he didn’t spare his energies in convincing the lessors and manufacturers to follow us in this adventure that will probably continue with the construction of a website.
This is to say that, even though he was not yet a member of our association, he has already greatly participated and contributed to the group, as to several of us individually.

Many of us have suggested to him that he join the AFC, and he was probably waiting for the right moment to arise. We are glad that it is finally here.