Emin paints film portrait of Margate life

The artist Tracey Emin has made her first feature-length film, based on her youth in the seaside town of Margate.

The artist Tracey Emin has made her first feature-length film, based on her youth in the seaside town of Margate.

Top Spot follows the lives of six teenage girls in the Kent town, and, true to the artist's style, does not shrink from explicit sexual experiences. The film has been commissioned for £116,000 by BBC3, the digital channel aimed at 25 to 34-year-olds, as part of its autumn schedule. Itwill have its premiere at the London Film Festival.

The title is drawn from a nightclub Emin visited as a teenager, but the term also has sexual connotations.

The film, which shows the girls discovering the joys and pain of friendship, sex and love, is sometimes provocative. "People who like my work are going to like it, and people who don't, won't," Emin said while making the film.

She chose the six girls, who had no acting experience, at an open casting session, and developed the script from her interaction with them, making use of improvisation.

The artist has set up her own company, Top Spot Films and is planning future film projects.