Daniel Pfeffer

DANIEL FERMÍN PFEFFER is an award-winning Mexican American filmmaker, writer, director, producer, and professor. He earned his BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and his MFA in Film from Columbia University. For the past decade, he has taught film production, directing, and screenwriting at the university level, bringing his ongoing professional practice as a filmmaker into the classroom.

Pfeffer’s debut feature, “I’ll See You Around,” premiered at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) and was distributed by Breaking Glass Pictures. His feature screenplay “Brujería” was named to Columbia University’s 2020 Blue List and was previously optioned by Sonoro Media. His student short “While I Was Gone” received the Denver Film Festival’s Domestic Student Award.

In 2025–26, Pfeffer directed three new short films. “PUEBLA,” starring Costanza Andrade, was filmed in his mother’s childhood home in Puebla, Mexico. “PRETEND NOTHING HAPPENED,” starring Tess Romero, follows two children left alone after an ICE raid separates them from their families in rural New York. Most recently, he co-directed and produced “SUSPENDED” for The Museum of Modern Art and The Healing Project, exploring alternatives to punitive school discipline through the story of two teenage boys brought together through mediation.

Pfeffer’s work also extends to independent television. He co-directed, co-wrote, and produced the pilot “Dreams and Schemes,” which premiered at LALIFF in 2024 and received the Best U.S. Episodic Award presented by FX. He executive produced “Chiqui,” which premiered in the Episodic program at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

He directed “CHOSEN,” starring Alison Jaye (“Stranger Things,” “Shameless”), which premiered at the Catalyst Story Institute/Content Festival and later screened at the Austin Film Festival and SeriesFest. Pfeffer also co-wrote and executive produced the
independent pilot “Born 2 Lose,” which premiered at SeriesFest and screened at the Atlanta Film Festival and Hamptons International Film Festival. It later received the Best U.S. Episodic Award, presented by Disney Entertainment, at LALIFF, followed by Best Episodic honors at the Bentonville and Bushwick film festivals.

Pfeffer has directed twelve short films, including “One Sweet Night,” inspired by the National Book Award-winning history “Arc of Justice.” Starring JD Williams (“The Wire”), the film dramatizes a true story of racial injustice in 1920s Detroit and was supported by Columbia University School of the Arts’ Arthur J. Harris Memorial Prize. In 2024, Pfeffer also directed five music videos for X Ambassadors and Virgin Music Group, including “No Strings,” which was featured by YouTube in Times Square, and “Your Town,” selected as a Kodak Shoot Film highlight.

Through his production company, One Love Picture Classics, Pfeffer develops and produces narrative films, episodic projects, documentaries, and music videos. Across genres and formats, his work centers on character-driven stories exploring identity, community, power, and social systems.

His films and episodic work have screened at Sundance, Austin Film Festival, Palm Springs International ShortFest, LALIFF, SeriesFest, Hamptons International Film Festival, Urbanworld, and the New York Latino Film Festival, among others. His work has received numerous awards and distinctions, including two Vimeo Staff Picks.