Banks attended the Cleveland School of the Arts, and has taught film at Cuyahoga Community College

Cuyahoga Community College

Cuyahoga Community College is a two-year college in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Founded in 1962, Cuyahoga Community College is the oldest, and largest community college in Ohio with a Fall 2009 enrollment of 31,024. * http://www.tri-c.edu/news/Pages/20100823a.aspxIn August of 2010, the college reported...

, the Cleveland Institute of Art

Cleveland Institute of Art

The Cleveland Institute of Art is a private college of art and design located in University Circle, Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded in 1882 as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women. From 1891 until 1948 it was named Cleveland School of Art. During the Great Depression the school...

, and Cleveland State University

Cleveland State University

Cleveland State University is a public university located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 when the state of Ohio assumed control of Fenn College, and it absorbed the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1969...

.

His best known work is the 1992 film, X: The Baby Cinema, a 4.5 minute, 16 mm short film which chronicled the commercial appropriation of the image of Malcolm X

Malcolm X

Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...

. The movie appeared on the compilation video The Best Of The New York Underground:Year One.

The 1994 feature documentary film, You Can't Get a Piece of Mind explores the world of Cleveland musician and Vietnam veteran, Dan "Supie T" Theman.

Banks has had his films shown at the Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

, was named Filmmaker of the Year at the Midwest Filmmakers Conference, and in 2000, he was the honored guest filmmaker in London at the BBC British Short Film Festival.

Banks lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
Banks has made some of his works freely available for downloading.