diff --git a/lib/ansible/callbacks.py b/lib/ansible/callbacks.py
index d6dfb3c11c..a4b62fb005 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/callbacks.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/callbacks.py
@@ -603,11 +603,13 @@ class PlaybookCallbacks(object):
         call_callback_module('playbook_on_no_hosts_remaining')
 
     def on_task_start(self, name, is_conditional):
+        name = utils.to_bytes(name)
         msg = "TASK: [%s]" % name
         if is_conditional:
             msg = "NOTIFIED: [%s]" % name
 
         if hasattr(self, 'start_at'):
+            self.start_at = utils.to_bytes(self.start_at)
             if name == self.start_at or fnmatch.fnmatch(name, self.start_at):
                 # we found out match, we can get rid of this now
                 del self.start_at
diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
index 06ca8144cc..674ca1cb11 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
@@ -1265,13 +1265,24 @@ def make_su_cmd(su_user, executable, cmd):
     )
     return ('/bin/sh -c ' + pipes.quote(sudocmd), None, success_key)
 
+# For v2, consider either using kitchen or copying my code from there for
+# to_unicode and to_bytes handling (TEK)
 _TO_UNICODE_TYPES = (unicode, type(None))
 
 def to_unicode(value):
+    # Use with caution -- this function is not encoding safe (non-utf-8 values
+    # will cause tracebacks if they contain bytes from 0x80-0xff inclusive)
     if isinstance(value, _TO_UNICODE_TYPES):
         return value
     return value.decode("utf-8")
 
+def to_bytes(value):
+    # Note: value is assumed to be a basestring to mirror to_unicode.  Better
+    # implementations (like kitchen.text.converters.to_bytes) bring that check
+    # into the function
+    if isinstance(value, str):
+        return value
+    return value.encode('utf-8')
 
 def get_diff(diff):
     # called by --diff usage in playbook and runner via callbacks
diff --git a/test/integration/Makefile b/test/integration/Makefile
index ac4aafe3f0..b732eb02f8 100644
--- a/test/integration/Makefile
+++ b/test/integration/Makefile
@@ -34,13 +34,12 @@ includes:
 
 unicode:
 	ansible-playbook unicode.yml -i $(INVENTORY) -e @$(VARS_FILE) -v $(TEST_FLAGS)
+	# Test the start-at-task flag #9571
+	ansible-playbook unicode.yml -i $(INVENTORY) -e @$(VARS_FILE) -v --start-at-task '*¶' -e 'start_at_task=True' $(TEST_FLAGS)
 
 non_destructive:
 	ansible-playbook non_destructive.yml -i $(INVENTORY) -e @$(VARS_FILE) $(CREDENTIALS_ARG) -v $(TEST_FLAGS)
 
-mine:
-	ansible-playbook mine.yml -i $(INVENTORY) -e @$(VARS_FILE) $(CREDENTIALS_ARG) -v $(TEST_FLAGS)
-
 destructive:
 	ansible-playbook destructive.yml -i $(INVENTORY) -e @$(VARS_FILE) $(CREDENTIALS_ARG) -v $(TEST_FLAGS)
 
diff --git a/test/integration/unicode.yml b/test/integration/unicode.yml
index 69c737a8a3..60fb14214b 100644
--- a/test/integration/unicode.yml
+++ b/test/integration/unicode.yml
@@ -41,3 +41,20 @@
   tasks:
     - debug: msg='Unicode is a good thing ™'
     - debug: msg=АБВГД
+
+# Run this test by adding to the CLI: -e start_at_task=True --start-at-task '*¶'
+- name: 'Show that we can skip to unicode named tasks'
+  hosts: localhost
+  gather_facts: false
+  vars:
+    flag: 'original'
+    start_at_task: False
+  tasks:
+    - name: 'Override flag var'
+      set_fact: flag='new'
+
+    - name: 'A unicode task at the end of the playbook: ¶'
+      assert:
+        that:
+          - 'flag == "original"'
+      when: start_at_task|bool