Banks attended the Cleveland School of the Arts, and has taught film at Cuyahoga Community College, the Cleveland Institute of Art, and Cleveland State University.
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. 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, 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.