Plenty of actors try their hand at directing, but very few of them go on to be accomplished filmmakers in their own right. Film festivals every year are littered with vanity projects from A-list stars that never amount to anything, and when it was announced last year that Angelina Jolie was going to be writing and directing her very first film, I don’t know that many people expected it to be anything particularly great. However, the first trailer for the film has arrived online this week, and it already has people buzzing about its Oscar potential.

For her first film, Jolie has not chosen to tackle particularly lightweight subject matter. In the Land of Blood and Honey is a drama set against the backdrop of the Bosnian War, about the love affair between a Bosnian war victim and a Serbian war criminal. The movie was shot on location with local actors and two different versions were filmed: one in English and one in Serbo-Croatian. It looks like a challenging and controversial story, and the trailer looks to have some pretty intense action scenes as well. Will this be the start of a new career for Angelina Jolie? In the Land of Blood and Honey hits select theatres on December 23rd; check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think.