diff --git a/popolo_data/importer.py b/popolo_data/importer.py
index 589b384..24df6e2 100644
--- a/popolo_data/importer.py
+++ b/popolo_data/importer.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class Popolo(object):
 
     @classmethod
     def from_filename(cls, filename):
-        with open(filename) as f:
+        with open(filename, encoding="utf-8") as f:
             return cls(json.load(f))
 
     @classmethod