Silent black-and-white film “The Artist,” an Oscar front-runner, began as a true passion project for producer Thomas Langmann and director Michel Hazanavicius. Langmann — son of French director Claude Berri — had to finance the project with his own money after no one would take a risk on it. He even sold a home and borrowed from relatives. “People would make weird faces,” Langmann has said about pitching the film, which has 10 Oscar nominations and won a best picture award at the Golden Globes. The producer and Hazanavicius found they shared an emotional connection when they met: Langmann’s father’s first movie, “The Two of Us,” told the story of a French-Jewish boy sent to the country to hide with an elderly couple. Hazanavicius’ parents were “hidden children” in France during World War II.