Yakov Protazanov

Jakov Protozanov was one of the leading directors of silent film, in addition to being a writer and an actor. Starting in 1900, Protozanov worked as a salesman in Moscow, and subsequently spent time as an accountant, a translator and a clerk in both France and Italy. In 1906 he found work as a director’s assistant in Moscow. After learning a great deal about filmmaking, Protozanov made his directorial debut in 1909 with the film The Fountain of Bakhchisarai. Protozanov went on to make a series of films while living in France and Italy between 1918 and 1923. Eventually, Protozanov returned to the USSR, where he would make the popular science fiction film Aelita. In 1935 he was the Honored Statesman of the Arts in the Russian SFSR; in 1944 he received the same honor from the Uzbekistan SSR. Jakov Protozanov died in Moscow in 1945. —Seagull Films