The 4th edition of the Festival saw His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid receive, on behalf of the event, the Bronze Fellini Medal, a prize awarded by UNESCO in recognition of the festival’s contribution to cultural diversity.

Changes were instituted at the organisational level, with new management measures being introduced to allow the festival to respond to challenges and achieve its grand ambitions for the future. A new board of directors was formed with the nomination of two vice-presidents delegate for the Marrakech International Film Festival Foundation: Faïçal Laraïchi and Nour-Eddine Saïl, who succeeded André Azoulay.

A celebration of Moroccan actors and directors shone through an overview of Moroccan cinema, and the festival also curated a programme of Hindi cinema. Tribute was paid to Mohammed Ousfour (1927–2005), the doyen of Moroccan directors with his film Le Fils Maudit (1958), as well as to Italian-Tunisian actor Claudia Cardinale, Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, and Scottish actor Sir Sean Connery.

The feature film jury was presided over by the great filmmaker Alan Parker, and had among its members Paulo Coelho, the best-selling Brazilian novelist.