New York is terrific, Tokyo is mesmerizing and London is fun. But when it comes to pure romance, nothing beats going with your partner to the City of Lights, Paris.

For Paris, Je Taime, 21 internationally renowned directors come together to make this absolutely wonderful anthology of short films about love in Paris. They include gay director Gus Van Sant (Elephant), Alexander Payne (Sideways), Olivier Assayas (Clean), Christopher Doyle (Wong Kar Wai's cinematographer) and Joel and Ethan Coen (Fargo).

But it's not just the directors who are famous. The incredible cast includes the best actors and actresses of our generation such as Natalie Portman, Juliette Binoche, Nick Nolte, Ludivine Sagnier and Miranda Richardson.

With so many stars, how could a project go wrong? There are 18 short stories here, but some pieces naturally stand out above the others. They include Gus Van Sant's lovely gay piece about a boy's (Gaspard Ulliel) flirtation with another boy (Elias McConnell), and Vincenzo Natali's darkly comic segment about a vampire (Elijah Wood) roaming the streets of Paris.

There's also Alfonso Cuaron's (Y Tu Mama Tambien) touching piece about an American father (Nick Nolte) seeking to mend ties with his French daughter. But the best of them all is Alexander Payne's beautiful and melancholy segment about a lonely American woman who learned French for two years so she could visit Paris and compose an essay about it in French.

There is so much talent on display here that it would be a shame to miss it. Try to catch this as soon as you can, because you never can tell how long wonderful art films like this get to run in the cinema — touch wood!