Her brother Mikhail Vinokurov was close friends with the Sadovsky theatrical family and made a great impact on young Protazanov.

[3] In 1900 Yakov graduated from the Moscow Commercial College and started working as a merchant, although he wasn't happy about his choice of profession.

Protazanov was finally given a director's chair, although, according to his memories, he took part in basically every filming process, including cinematography, stage property and bookkeeping.

[3] His most notable works of that period are The Song of the Prophet Oleg based on Alexander Pushkin's poem and Departure of a Grand Old Man about the last days of Leo Tolstoy.

In the period between 1911 and 1920 Protazanov wrote and directed some 80 features, including The Queen of Spades (1916) and Father Sergius (1918), which have been acclaimed as his masterpieces.

He emigrated to Europe in 1920 following the Russian Civil War along with Ermolieff's group where he worked at various French- and German-based film studios.

In 1928 he directed The White Eagle that featured Vsevolod Meyerhold and Vasili Kachalov in the leading roles — one of their rare appearances on the big screen.