Hate Crimes in the UK

This educational animation, titled “Hate Crimes in the UK”, was commissioned by Professor Peter Hopkins at Newcastle University and funded through the university’s Student Health and Wellbeing Service. It explores a difficult subject through a thoughtful mix of general education, signposting to support, and personal narratives that put human experience at the centre.

The aim was to help people understand what hate crime is, recognise it, and know what to do about it, both as someone who might be targeted and as a bystander. Weaving personal stories through the factual material keeps the subject grounded in real lives rather than abstract definitions, which is often what helps a viewer absorb a hard topic and feel able to act on it.

For the more explanatory sections I used abstract geometric shapes with almost comic characterisations, which held attention in places that might otherwise feel dry. I then interspersed these with human characters in the lived-experience vignettest to help build empathy and connection. The film was made with Professor Peter Hopkins, one of the UK’s leading experts on Islamophobia, anti-Muslim hatred and the geographies of racism, and it sits within his wider body of anti-racism work at Newcastle. It’s part of a run of projects I’ve been trusted to make with him, including the What is Islamophobia? animation, which covers closely related ground on racialisation and allyship. Because it was funded through Newcastle’s wellbeing service, it also belongs alongside the student-facing work I’ve made for the university on consent and substance use. Handling sensitive, high-stakes subjects with care and clarity is the heart of my animation work with academics and researchers.

If you’re a researcher or organisation working on anti-racism, hate crime, community safety or equality and you’d like to bring a difficult subject to life through animation, I’d love to hear from you. Get in touch.