Editing Dalva's first professor editing credit was of the experimental art film
Lions Love (1969), directed by
Agnès Varda. He was an early member of
Francis Ford Coppola's
American Zoetrope. In 1979, he edited
The Black Stallion, which earned him an
Oscar nomination for Best Film Editing. His subsequent editing credits included
Raising Cain,
Jumanji,
The Joy Luck Club,
Jurassic Park III,
Hidalgo,
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio,
Captain America: The First Avenger, and
Lovelace. He was elected to membership in the
American Cinema Editors. Documentarian Gary Weimberg credited Dalva with inventing the "timeline" method of editing that is now ubiquitous with
non-linear video editing.
Cinematography Dalva's USC classmate
George Lucas hired him to shoot
second unit photography on the original
Star Wars. He also did additional photography on
The Black Stallion. He subsequently shot several documentaries. In 1999, he shot 24 episodes of the police procedural television series
Nash Bridges.
Directing Dalva directed a behind-the-scenes documentary of
Francis Ford Coppola's
The Conversation. He made his feature directorial debut with
The Black Stallion Returns, the sequel to
The Black Stallion. Later, he directed episodes of
Crime Story,
Nova, and
Star Wars: The Clone Wars. == Personal life ==