Gone are the grownup gatekeepers of movie merit — kids are the audience for the weekly Cinema Circus films, so kids are our reviewers. Each week the Gazette and the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival bring you the big view from the smaller viewers with weekly kid critics.

Today summer kid Eva Stanley reviews The View from Above, a program of shorts which screens (along with plenty of larger-than-life children’s activities) on Wednesday, August 11, at 5 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center (a prelude to dinner and a movie for the grownups):

I am reviewing short films for Cinema Circus. Though I enjoyed all of them, I have chosen to write about five of my favorite shorts. I selected these because they were humorous in different ways, and were very entertaining to watch.

The Beast of Monsieur Racine: Monsieur Racine has a pear tree with delicious fruit. Millionaires have tried to buy them from him but he says “no!” Then one day he finds that all but one of his pears have been stolen. He sets a trap for the thief. Monsieur Racine gets quite a surprise when he finds out who is really stealing his pears!

This movie has great sound effects, and is very amusing.

Orange: This film is real footage of a city, but the objects in the city are moving to a certain beat.

I like the sound and rhythm in this film.

Rosa Sommer: In this film a little girl takes a bike ride around the city while she listens to music on her earphones. Everyone that she sees ends up following the beat of her song. The song that she was listening to was very catchy, and it made me want to dance along to the rhythm. No one spoke but you could see how people were feeling from their expressions.

At Home With Mrs. Hen: This film is about a mother hen and her two chicks. The chicks are very lazy and unhelpful. When Mrs. Hen leaves to hatch a new egg, the chicks find they can’t do anything for themselves, and they realize how much they need their mother. When she comes back, they appreciate her more, and help her take care of the house and the new chick.

The animation was interesting because the chickens did not have eyes, but it told the story well. Although the picture is animated the sound in the movie is from real chickens, which makes it more humorous.

Mind the Gap: This film is about a day at a train station. What makes it so interesting is that people in the movie are represented by buttons. During the day buttons meet and get to know each other, a tour group of buttons comes through and takes pictures, an old button is knocked down and taken away on a stretcher made from thimbles and a safety pin, and more!

This film is very creative because they didn’t use actors or materials that are commonly chosen by other directors. It was my favorite because it was funny in its own special way.

Still Bill

At 8 p.m. the celluloid story of musician Bill Withers, Still Bill, is back by popular demand, this time with film subjects Marcia and Kori Withers appearing to take questions after the screening.

It’s remarkable that the singer/songwriter behind such timeless hits as Lean On Me, Ain’t No Sunshine, and Just the Two of Us isn’t a household name. Equally remarkable is the path he took to fame, his reasons for renouncing it at its height, and the shining wisdom that the fiercely independent artist still shows in this revealing documentary. Through interviews with Dr. Cornel West, Sting, and Withers’s family and friends — as well as concert footage and a soundtrack containing some never-before-heard songs, Still Bill presents a man who, at 70, and without fanfare, continues to make deep human connections in the form of music.

Directed by Damani Baker and Alex Vlack, this 2009 documentary runs 78 minutes. Dinner is available from 7 p.m.