new media ecology, authorship, and amateurism
The audiovisual consumption landscape in Cuba has changed drastically since the early 2000s due to the Paquete Semanal (Weekly Package). This way of distributing and consuming audiovisual material has notably diversified the content that Cubans can access.
Most of the Paquete’s materials (series, films, telenovelas, documentaries, reality shows, etc.) originate in international media conglomerates, mainly from the US, but there is also a significant domestic presence.
Examples of the audiovisual materials that Cubans can find in the Paquete include, to name a few, popular series such as Westworld (2016-2022) and Stranger Things (2016), Turkish telenovelas like Hercai (2019-2021) and The Magnificent Century (2011-2014), and current blockbusters such as Top Gun: Maverick (2022) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).
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DORTA, Walfrido, 2023. Tropical and Millennial Vampires: an Amateur and Exploitation Film (Sangre Cubana). SPECIAL ISSUE–CIBERLETRAS 48 PERSPECTIVES ON SPANISH, LATIN AMERICAN AND LATINX ℡EVISION AND CINEMA. 2023. P. 76.