He graduated with a degree in cinema at the Federal Fluminense University and coordinated the cinema and video department of the Banco do Brasil Cultural Center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rota de Colisão (Collision Course – 1999) was his debut in filmmaking, for which he was nominated for the Best Film Award in the Molodist International Film Festival. Duarte’s Rota de Colisão was also nominated for The Cinema Brazil Grand Prize for Best Short Film in 2000. He took home the Golden Danzante and the Canal + Award for Rota de Colisão respectively in the Huesca Film Festival and the Biarritz International Festival of Latin American Cinema in 2000.