Daniel Chavez

Daniel Chávez-Ontiveros is an award winning Mexican-American documentary editor with an MFA in Documentary Filmmaking from Stanford University.

He is best known for his editing work on 499, Sansón and Me, and Unseen, films that have premiered and earned awards at top-tier festivals including Tribeca, Hot Docs, and Sheffield DocFest. His latest project, the feature documentary American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez, currently in post-production, recently received the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, recognizing its exceptional use of archival materials and awarding it a $200,000 grant. He also worked as a finishing editor in the doc film How to Clean A House in 10 Easy Steps, produced by Olga Segura and executive produced by Alfonso Cuarón.

In 2020, Daniel was nominated for Best Editing in a Documentary Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival for 499, later recognized among DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40” emerging documentary filmmakers and named a Karen Schmeer Editing Fellow in 2022, and most recently selected as a Gloria Schoeman Fellow in 2025.

Daniel’s editing work often focuses on the American-Mexican experience, immigration, and social justice. He’s also drawn to hybrid films, where the lines between fiction and documentary are constantly blurred.