diff --git a/caca-php/examples/figfont.php b/caca-php/examples/figfont.php
index 0394064..57ecc93 100755
--- a/caca-php/examples/figfont.php
+++ b/caca-php/examples/figfont.php
@@ -1,8 +1,21 @@
 #!/usr/bin/php5
 <?php
 
+function unistr_to_ords($str, $encoding = 'UTF-8'){       
+	$str = mb_convert_encoding($str, "UCS-4BE", $encoding);
+	$result = array();
+
+	for ($i = 0; $i < mb_strlen($str, "UCS-4BE"); $i++){       
+		$c = mb_substr($str, $i, 1, "UCS-4BE");                   
+		$val = unpack("N", $c);           
+		$result[] = $val[1];               
+	}       
+	return $result;
+}
+
+
 if ($argc < 3) {
-	die("Too few arguments.\nUsage: cmd <path of font> <string>\n");
+	die("Too few arguments.\nUsage: cmd <path of font> <utf8 string>\n");
 }
 
 $cv = caca_create_canvas(0, 0);
@@ -11,14 +24,13 @@ if (!caca_canvas_set_figfont($cv, $argv[1])) {
 	die("Could not open font\n");
 }
 
-$str = $argv[2];
+$chars = unistr_to_ords($argv[2]);
 $color = 0;
-for ($i = 0; $i < strlen($str); $i++) {
+foreach ($chars as $c) {
 	caca_set_color_ansi($cv, 1 + (($color += 4) % 15), CACA_TRANSPARENT);
-	caca_put_figchar($cv, ord($str[$i]));
+	caca_put_figchar($cv, $c);
 }
 
 echo caca_export_string($cv, "utf8");
 
 
-