Prolific French film-maker Patrice Leconte - who has been shooting films back to back lately - is currently working on two new and still untitled projects. Both are still at script stage - one with The Hairdresser's Husband screenwriter Claude Klotz and the other by La Fille Sur Le Pont's Serge Frydman - but both could happen this year.

Both titles are with Philippe Carcassonne's Cineb, which has a partnership with French major Pathe. Carcassonne produced four of Leconte's previous films including the Oscar-nominated Ridicule, which was put through Carcassonne's previous company Cinea, a partnership with PolyGram.

Leconte has been very much in the limelight lately - sparking a heated controversy concerning the role of French critics and shooting two big budget films in the last year. He made two high profile pictures La Fille Sur Le Pont, starring Vanessa Paradis and Daniel Auteuil, and period drama La Veuve De Saint-Pierre, featuring Juliette Binoche, Emir Kusturica and Auteuil, which is scheduled for a spring release.

The first of the new projects could start shooting very quickly, according to Carcassonne: 'The final script should be ready by the end of February,' Carcassonne said. 'This is a low-budget film. The actors have already agreed in principle. If we sign them up shortly, we will be ready to shoot in April.' The second project could start shooting at the end of 2000 or early 2001.