Vasili Pichul's Little Vera was released in 1988 during the early Glasnost years of Gorbachev. With a no-holds-barred screenplay by Pichul's wife Maria Khmelik, this story of the seamier side of life for ordinary people was a box-office hit and went on to receive the European Film Award for best screenplay as well as the Special Jury Prize at Montreal. This first in-full exploration of the film places it within the genre of ""youth cinema"" and corrects the Western label given to the film, which featured the first sex act in Soviet cinema, as ""the first Soviet sex film.""