Netflix's 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' hits screen in Havana

Hundreds of fans gathered outside the Yara cinema in Cuba's capital on Friday evening for a screening of the first TV adaptation of one of Latin America's most beloved novels, a mammoth challenge taken on by streaming giant Netflix.

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The first two chapters of One Hundred Years of Solitude—a 16-episode series in two parts—were presented at the Havana film festival on the Caribbean island nation where residents are blocked from accessing Netflix among other US websites.

"As Cubans do not have access to Netflix, this is an opportunity to see an important part of Latin American culture," spectator Ruth Guerra told Reuters, as a big, largely local crowd waited for the public screening.

"(Writer) Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a Latin American icon and we Cubans feel very connected to him."

"I never thought it would be brought to the cinema," said Cuban actress and cast member Jacqueline Arenal. "It was and I have the opportunity to be a part of it. I can't express the emotion that means."