diff --git a/gnu/local.mk b/gnu/local.mk
index dee36f8b44..53120db7f7 100644
--- a/gnu/local.mk
+++ b/gnu/local.mk
@@ -566,6 +566,7 @@ dist_patch_DATA =						\
   %D%/packages/patches/aegis-perl-tempdir2.patch           	\
   %D%/packages/patches/aegis-test-fixup-1.patch            	\
   %D%/packages/patches/aegis-test-fixup-2.patch            	\
+  %D%/packages/patches/aegisub-icu59-include-unistr.patch	\
   %D%/packages/patches/agg-am_c_prototype.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/amule-crypto-6.patch			\
   %D%/packages/patches/ansible-wrap-program-hack.patch		\
diff --git a/gnu/packages/patches/aegisub-icu59-include-unistr.patch b/gnu/packages/patches/aegisub-icu59-include-unistr.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..78414741be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gnu/packages/patches/aegisub-icu59-include-unistr.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+This patch adds an include needed since icu59:
+Source: https://git.archlinux.org/svntogit/community.git/plain/trunk/icu59.patch?h=packages/aegisub
+--- aegisub-3.2.2/src/utils.cpp	2014-12-08 02:07:09.000000000 +0200
++++ aegisub-3.2.2/src/utils.cpp	2017-04-26 11:11:15.438239182 +0300
+@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
+ #include <boost/filesystem/path.hpp>
+ #include <map>
+ #include <unicode/locid.h>
++#include <unicode/unistr.h>
+ #include <wx/clipbrd.h>
+ #include <wx/filedlg.h>
+ #include <wx/stdpaths.h>
diff --git a/gnu/packages/video.scm b/gnu/packages/video.scm
index 2a1391c049..510122ab3b 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/video.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/video.scm
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 ;;; Copyright © 2018 Leo Famulari <leo@famulari.name>
 ;;; Copyright © 2018 Brendan Tildesley <brendan.tildesley@openmailbox.org>
 ;;; Copyright © 2018 Arun Isaac <arunisaac@systemreboot.net>
+;;; Copyright © 2018 Björn Höfling <bjoern.hoefling@bjoernhoefling.de>
 ;;;
 ;;; This file is part of GNU Guix.
 ;;;
@@ -2738,21 +2739,24 @@ programmers to access a standard API to open and decompress media files.")
                      name "-" version ".tar.xz"))
               (sha256
                (base32
-                "11b83qazc8h0iidyj1rprnnjdivj1lpphvpa08y53n42bfa36pn5"))))
+                "11b83qazc8h0iidyj1rprnnjdivj1lpphvpa08y53n42bfa36pn5"))
+              (patches (search-patches "aegisub-icu59-include-unistr.patch"))))
     (build-system gnu-build-system)
     (arguments
      `(#:configure-flags
        (list "--disable-update-checker"
              "--without-portaudio"
              "--without-openal"
-             "--without-oss")
+             "--without-oss"
+             "CXXFLAGS=-DU_USING_ICU_NAMESPACE=1")
        ;; tests require busted, a lua package we don't have yet
        #:tests? #f
        #:phases
        (modify-phases %standard-phases
          (add-before 'configure 'fix-ldflags
            (lambda _
-             (setenv "LDFLAGS" "-pthread"))))))
+             (setenv "LDFLAGS" "-pthread")
+             #t)))))
     (inputs
      `(("boost" ,boost)
        ("desktop-file-utils" ,desktop-file-utils)