The director will be awarded one of the Golden Dove of Peace prizes on Wednesday for his biting satire on the Bosnian war, prize sponsors Archivio Disarmo (Disarmament Archive) said in a statement.

Tanovic wrote and directed the film about a Bosnian Muslim soldier and a Serb soldier who become trapped in an abandoned trench during the country's 1992-95 war.

Tanovic scored Bosnia's first Oscar triumph

The soldiers' plight eventually becomes the centre of a media circus, as they demonstrate their humanity in the tale about the insanity of war.

The anti-war film won this year's Oscar for best foreign language film and has been an arthouse success in the UK and elsewhere.

Tanovic had close contact with the Bosnian war, spending the first two years of the conflict responsible for the army archive and making 300 hours of documentary footage.

Now living in France, Tanovic is a hero to many in Bosnia, with thousands lining the streets of capital Sarajevo to greet him after his Oscar success.

The Golden Dove prizes will be handed out during Wednesday's ceremony by Archivio Disarmo, the Rome-based research centre which has sponsored the award since 1986.

Other winners this year included several figures involved in the battle to bring peace to the Middle East, as well as a Rwandan activist and an Italian journalist.

Previous recipients of the prize include former South African President Nelson Mandela, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and the human rights group Amnesty International.