diff --git a/screenless/bureau/bureau.py b/screenless/bureau/bureau.py
index fe7f891..427db0c 100644
--- a/screenless/bureau/bureau.py
+++ b/screenless/bureau/bureau.py
@@ -378,7 +378,8 @@ class Bureau(object):
         # run template with kwargs
         templfile = os.path.join(self.mdir, template)
         self.log.debug("printing with template: %s", templfile)
-        templ = Template(filename=templfile, strict_undefined=True)
+        templ = Template(filename=templfile, input_encoding="utf-8",
+                         strict_undefined=True)
 
         # TODO: make paper size a config variable
         pdfpath = tempfile.mkstemp(".pdf")[1]