Director Bong Joon-Ho receives the Palme d'Or award for "Parasite" on stage during the closing ceremony of the 72nd Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, on May 25, 2019. The curtain of the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival fell on Saturday evening, with South Korean movie "Parasite" winning this year's most prestigious award, the Palme d'Or. (Xinhua/Kim Yida)

PARIS, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The curtain of the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival fell on Saturday evening, with South Korean movie "Parasite" winning this year's most prestigious award, the Palme d'Or.

The jurors headed by Mexican film director Alejandro Gonzlez Inarritu, decided unanimously to award the Palme d'Or to the 132-minute film "Parasite" directed by South Korean director Bong Joon-ho.

Last year, the top prize went to Japanese film "Shoplifters", portrait of a poor and improvised family directed by director Hirokazu Kore-eda.

"...Parasite has been a special adventure...I'm the first one surprised to win this prize," Bong Joon-ho told the gathering after being awarded.

This year's the Grand Prize, the festival's second place award, went to Mati Diop's "Atlantics," while the award of best actor went to Antoniao Banderas for his performance in Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's "Pain and Glory."The jurors gave the best actress award to Emily Beecham.

The jury prize was shared by Ladg Ly's "Les Miserables" and "Bacurau" directed by Kleber Mendonca Filho and Juliano Dornelles.

French writer-director Celine Sciamma won the best screenplay award for "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" while and Cesar Diaz's "Our Mothers" was awarded the Camera d'Or.

21 movies had vied for the festival's top prize this year, including "The Wild Goose Lake" of Chinese director Diao Yinan.