Robert C. Banks

Tale of life, love and the pursuit of happiness... in Cleveland. Nine vignettes about love: an old war hero defends the honor and memory of a long-lost love; a man's past comes to light in the midst of a perfect date; a recently separated paramedic gets more than he bargains for when he is thrust in the middle of a domestic dispute; a desperate man employs his friends in an elaborate scheme to meet the girl of his dreams, a recovering sex addict returns home to start a new life. There are thousands of stories of love, lust, loss and despair all over Cleveland-these are just a few of them.

“Paper Shadows” is a surrealist, nonlinear satire about the creative & emotional angst shared by an elderly black man and a young white female art student. Shot on 35mm black and white film using anamorphic optics for the 2:35.1 aspect ratio, the central characters represent the racial, class, gendered, and generational gaps and complexities in society. The film, through image and sound manipulation, explores ideas and identity that are rarely explored and contrasted in mainstream narrative films. The characters indulge in a Walter Mitty type fantasy involving a grant fellowship competition, mysticism and espionage intrigue within the fictional philanthropic organization that effects both characters as they unite to oppose and combat.

Film by Robert C. Banks

An examination of 100 years of African Americans being murdered in movies.

Drawing by hand directly on 16mm film, Banks challenges commercial appropriations of the image of Malcolm X.

Tale of life, love and the pursuit of happiness... in Cleveland. Nine vignettes about love: an old war hero defends the honor and memory of a long-lost love; a man's past comes to light in the midst of a perfect date; a recently separated paramedic gets more than he bargains for when he is thrust in the middle of a domestic dispute; a desperate man employs his friends in an elaborate scheme to meet the girl of his dreams, a recovering sex addict returns home to start a new life. There are thousands of stories of love, lust, loss and despair all over Cleveland-these are just a few of them.

“Paper Shadows” is a surrealist, nonlinear satire about the creative & emotional angst shared by an elderly black man and a young white female art student. Shot on 35mm black and white film using anamorphic optics for the 2:35.1 aspect ratio, the central characters represent the racial, class, gendered, and generational gaps and complexities in society. The film, through image and sound manipulation, explores ideas and identity that are rarely explored and contrasted in mainstream narrative films. The characters indulge in a Walter Mitty type fantasy involving a grant fellowship competition, mysticism and espionage intrigue within the fictional philanthropic organization that effects both characters as they unite to oppose and combat.

Film by Robert C. Banks

An examination of 100 years of African Americans being murdered in movies.

Drawing by hand directly on 16mm film, Banks challenges commercial appropriations of the image of Malcolm X.