The Garden Theatre will present the inaugural Princeton Cinematic Arts Award to Garrett Brown, a pioneer of filmmaking technology. This historic event marks the first time that Princeton’s 106-year-old cinema will formally recognize the cultural and technical achievements of a visual artist.

Brown will spend a special evening at the Garden on Thursday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m., when he will discuss his career in Hollywood and officially receive the award.

Brown is the maverick inventor of the Steadicam, a camera stabilizer that has been used on nearly 100 movies over the past 50 years, including Rocky, The Shining, and Return of the Jedi. In addition to his signature creation, he has furnished the industry with remarkable tools like the Skycam, Mobycam, and Divecam, all of which have been studied in institutions around the world. Brown’s inventions have expanded the vocabulary of visual language and changed the way motion pictures are made.

The Garden will screen two films that feature Brown’s ingenuity. The Shining will play on Saturday, April 11 at 7 p.m. His work on Kubrick’s horror masterpiece yielded the iconic low-angle tracking shots through the hallways of the Overlook Hotel and cemented Brown’s legacy in cinematic history. Bound for Glory will play on Tuesday, April 14, also at 7 p.m. This Woody Guthrie biopic by Hal Ashby was the first production to employ Brown’s Steadicam, which contributed to the film winning the Academy Award for Cinematography.

Tickets for each screening and award ceremony can be purchased at the box office or online at princetongardentheatre.org/cinematicarts.