HATE crime is being tackled with a new video launched by a former victim.
Polish film student Kris Bilski produced the film with company Astor Productions to raise awareness after he was threatened in the street.
It shows Coronation Street actress Amy Forrest playing a young woman who sees a man abuse three people from minority groups.
She tells police about the crime and the man is arrested.
Mr Bilski, 21, said: "I hope this film will help to decrease hate crime in the city.
"I think Hull does have a problem.
"I took influence from my own story. A couple of years ago, I was a victim of hate crime myself."
The filmmaker, who now studies at Hull School of Art and Design, was walking down the road in 2007 and talking in Polish on his phone when a gang of eight men approached him.
They shouted at him, telling him to "go back to Poland". Then one produced a knife.
Mr Bilski said: "At first, I thought I was going to die.
"It was really strange because I didn't do anything wrong – I was walking down the street on the phone, I wasn't causing any trouble.
"They were drunk, so I think that's why, but it's still not acceptable."
The student went straight to the police.
But many similar crimes are unreported.
Chief Inspector Dave Houchin said: "There's a problem with hate crime everywhere. I don't think Hull is any worse than anywhere else.
"The problem we're trying to address is people's reluctance to report it.
"There are a lot of people from communities very different to ours who have had different experiences with the police.
"We want to tell them we don't tolerate hate crime and it's a priority for us to deal with."
Humberside Police recorded 872 hate crimes last year.
These included 87 homophobic offences, 723 racial, nine religious and 53 against disabled people.
Officers worked with Mr Bilski on his video in a bid to encourage reporting of abuse.
Chief Insp Houchin said: "The target audience is very wide. It's the whole of the general public.
"We do lots of engagement with the community anyway and it gives us another tool to do the job."
Greater Manchester Police last month announced they would extend the definition of hate crime to cover people in youth subcultures, such as goths.
Chief Insp Houchlin said there were no immediate plans to follow Manchester's lead but a broader approach to the problem remained an option.
He said: "It's a natural progression because we're becoming more and more aware of how diverse our community is.
"Every one of us is different. Hate crime is likely to be more prevalent in areas of people from diverse backgrounds.
But it can happen anywhere, to anybody. For me, it's just about respect for people and making sure everybody has equal access to support and equal access to justice."
One of the lead officers on hate crime is PC Sharon Houfe, a community cohesion officer for Hull.
She said it is important that people feel they can always go to the police for help, even if the offence was not a violent one.
PC Houfe said: "I think we still recognise, across the board, that hate crime is underreported.
"People will tolerate low-level incidents, such as verbal abuse.
"We're trying to raise awareness and encourage people, even at a very low level, to report things through to us."
