Yakov Alexandrovich Protazanov (Russian: Я́ков Алекса́ндрович Протаза́нов ; January 23 (O.S. February 4), 1881 – August 8, 1945) was a Russian and Soviet film director and screenwriter, and one of the founding fathers of cinema of Russia. He was an Honored Artist of the Russian SFSR (1935) and Uzbek SSR (1944).
Yakov directed several Soviet films