после подключения к базе
mysql_query( "set session character_set_client=utf8;" );
mysql_query( "set session character_set_database=utf8;" );
mysql_query( "set session character_set_connection=utf8;" );
mysql_query( "set session character_set_results=utf8;" );
mysql_query( "set session collation_connection=utf8_general_ci;" );