Director: Reza Arjangi
Cast: Nasrollah Madghalchi, Naser Mamdouh, Hamed Azizi, Farzad Hasani, Sarah javaheri
Yooz is a 2025 Iranian animated adventure-comedy directed by Reza Arjangi, following an Asiatic Cheetah who was raised in New York City and sets off on an arduous journey back to his homeland of Iran — a road that turns out to be far more than geographic.
What is Yooz about?
Having spent his entire life in the concrete rhythms of New York, our cheetah protagonist has adapted seamlessly to urban routines — yet a quiet longing for something he cannot quite name follows him everywhere. When he finally commits to returning to Iran, the path proves unpredictable. Along the way he confronts obstacles both physical and internal, forcing him to examine what home truly means and whether identity can survive transplantation. The film layers its road-movie structure with questions about belonging, cultural memory, and the peculiar grief of growing up between two worlds — all wrapped in the warm, comedic energy of a family animation.
Cast & crew
Director Reza Arjangi leads the creative team behind this animated feature. The vocal cast includes Nasrollah Madghalchi, Naser Mamdouh, Hamed Azizi, and Farzad Hasani bringing character and warmth to the ensemble, with Sarah Javaheri also among the lead voices lending the production its human-feeling emotional core.
Context & significance
The Asiatic Cheetah — yooz in Persian — is one of Iran's most endangered and beloved wildlife symbols, which gives this film an immediate resonance for Iranian viewers. By casting the cheetah as a diaspora figure raised abroad and yearning for return, the filmmakers speak directly to the experience millions of Iranians outside the country carry: the complicated pull of a homeland known more through stories and memory than lived reality. For diaspora families, Yooz works on two levels — as a visually accessible animated film children can enjoy, and as an emotionally honest portrait of cultural dislocation that parents will recognize. The 2025 release places it among a newer wave of Iranian animation that addresses identity and belonging with genuine storytelling ambition.
Where & how to watch
Yooz is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio. Stream it on the web, your TV, or your phone — no VPN required, no geo-blocking, and you can cancel anytime.