The directing debut of Angelina Jolie, set during the Bosnian War, has been snubbed by the sole distributor in the Serb-run part of Bosnia.

The film, In the Land of Blood and Honey, is a drama about a Serb soldier who discovers his ex-lover, a Muslim Bosnian woman, among the sex slaves in a prisoner of war camp.

But distributor Vladimir Ljevak called the film "lousy" and said it would alienate its audience by portraying Serbs as villains.

The film, due to debut in Sarajevo, one of the worst-hit cities in the Bosnian War of the 1990s, has been given a green light for screenings in the Bosnian-Croat part of the country .

Muslim Bosnians who live in the Serb-run part of Bosnia have announced plans to organise private screenings.