CinemaKidz

Reviews (7)

• Cinemakidz?

  February 2024

  My daughter LOVES Cinemakidz and she ends up there at least 2 weeks of every summer. It's great for all ages. I highly recommend! She started when she was 6 and she is 10 now, so shes had years of experience there and still loves it.

• Cinemakidz?

  January 2024

  My seven year old LOVED this camp last summer. The kids worked together to write, act, film, and edit a 7-minute movie. What they were able to accomplish together was really cool, and my kid was super proud and still talks about it!

• Review from the 2023 Summer Camp Survey

  November 2023

  Location: BAM How old was your child when they attended camp this summer? 8 and 11 Review: It’s a great mix of indoor and outdoor time. It’s good for kids 7+ to learn a new skill and really get creative. They’ve had great counselors both years my kids have done it. What would you change about the program, if anything, and why? They have a lot of rules about pickup and dropoff that are cumbersome. Strangely you have to bring your older child to camp at a strict time. They can’t go on their own but they can self dismiss. Would you like to add anything related to COVID and how the camp handled it? They handled it well in 2022 and had clear policies. It didn’t seem to be an issue this year.

• Review from the 2023 Summer Camp Survey

  November 2023

  Location: BAM How old was your child when they attended camp this summer? 10 Review: My twins really liked the camp. They have weeklong sessions and you sign up for themes like special effects or YouTubing. The BAM location was good for my kids because it was mostly inside with a good break outside to have lunch and play while some of the other locations are mostly outside. Best part was that the counselors were phenomenal with my neurodivergent kids! It was cool, they learned, and they had fun!

• Review from the 2022 Summer Camp Survey

  September 2022

  Location: BAM How old was your child when they attended camp this summer? 12 Review: Really enjoyed learning about camerawork and film editing; BAM location was great for both indoor and outdoor activities. Counselors were attentive and kept things interesting. What would you change about the program, if anything, and why? Maybe have intro and intermediate classes?

• Cinemakidz

  August 2022

  Unfortunately, neither of my children had a positive experience at Cinemakidz camp, nor did my son's friend who joined us for the week from out of state. Filming was done on an ipad, not the great equipment they suggest on the site they are going to use. There was far too much downtime without any effort to provide organized activities for nearly 1/2 the day each day. 90 minutes for lunch in a scorching, shadeless park and then a solid 2 hours at the end of each day spent mostly outside with minimal supervision and zero enrichment in the blazing basketball court is ridiculous. The nyc movie adventure camp was billed as this amazing experience trekking around the city when the only real trip away from the neighborhood was to grand central, apparently for just a few minutes and then a quick return home to be ignored by the counselors for the rest of the day (they also went to the parking lot of the Brooklyn Museum twice but seriously - that's not what was advertised). "Secret hidden landmarks throughout New York City"? "Governors Island, Fort Tilden Beach, the Roosevelt Island Abandoned Castle, the Staten Island Boardwalk, Greenwood cemetery, Little Island Park, The Cloisters, and so much more."? Hardly! The absolute definition of bait and switch. Finally, the counselors frequently chided the kids during that 2 hour period of fending for themselves for looking at phones while at the same time staring at their own phones. I do not condone phone usage AT ALL during camp and was frustrated that any of the kids were pulling them out but the COUNSELORS WERE GLUED to theirs and if they'd been stimulating and interesting to the kids, I'm sure no phone distraction would have ever surfaced on either side. Totally NOT OK. For my daughter's class, the kids were told they couldn't do any cooking with dairy products because the counselor had extreme allergies...why on earth would they assign someone with extreme food allergies to a cooking themed camp, particularly when they made it clear up front that they planned to make pizza??? She told them that she had no control over which class she was assigned to and was equally surprised at the assignment. My daughter's issues with the overall experience were very similar to my son's and to our friend's son so it wasn't just what was being prepared, but it was an additional bizarre addition to the overall experience. In sum, they were bored and frustrated for the duration and their interest in movie making was entirely crushed by the extremely lackluster experience and the excessive, neglectful level of downtime. They spent an unacceptable amount of time in the blazing, scorching courtyard and were left to do absolutely nothing for hours each day. I don't need to pay hundreds of dollars for my kids to be ignored by counselors. If I wanted them to do nothing all week, I could have kept them home for free! Cinemakidz was quite the opposite of what was advertised. It ruined the week visit from our friend's son in his first time in NYC and needs HUGE improvements to live up to what they've promised.

• Review from the 2021 Summer Camp Survey

  September 2021

  Name of camp: CinemaKidz Location: Prospect Park How old was your child when they attended camp this summer? 11 and (nearly) 9 Review: Both of my kids loved this filmmaking camp! They especially loved learning about camera techniques, special effects and film editing—and had tons of fun running around, coming up with crazy stories, and putting it all together. What would you change about the program, if anything, and why? Was new to us but seemed great! Would you like to add anything related to COVID and how the camp handled it? I felt they handled things appropriately for levels of concern.