Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras (pictured left) was one of two women honored at Lincoln Center on Monday afternoon.

Poitras and ballet dancer Meaghan Dutton O'Hara (pictured, right) received the 2011 Martin E. Segal Award on the 25th Anniversary of the foundation of the award. The prizes were presented by Lincoln Center president Reynold Levy and Segal, a founder of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Each year since the awards were created in 1987, two Lincoln Center constituents have chosen a recipient to receive the cash award. Past film recipients have included filmmaker Jim McKay, who was at Monday's Lincoln Center lunch to present the awards to Poitras and Dutton O'Hara.

Poitras is in the midst of a trilogy about America post 9/11 includes My Country/My Country (from New Directors/New Films 2006) and The Oath from last year's New Directors series. Prior to making movies, she was a professional chef in Boston and San Francisco, switching to filmmaking after taking a film class with Ernie Gehr at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Photo provided by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.