Index: django/contrib/markup/templatetags/markup.py
===================================================================
--- django/contrib/markup/templatetags/markup.py	(revision 7020)
+++ django/contrib/markup/templatetags/markup.py	(working copy)
@@ -65,7 +65,12 @@
                 safe_mode = True
             else:
                 safe_mode = False
-            return mark_safe(force_unicode(markdown.markdown(smart_str(value), extensions, safe_mode=safe_mode)))
+
+            # markdown 1.7 was the first to add proper unicode support
+            if markdown.version_info < (1,7):
+                return mark_safe(force_unicode(markdown.markdown(smart_str(value), extensions, safe_mode=safe_mode)))
+            else:
+                return mark_safe(markdown.markdown(force_unicode(value), extensions, safe_mode=safe_mode))
         else:
             return mark_safe(force_unicode(markdown.markdown(smart_str(value))))
 markdown.is_safe = True