The Williamstown resident played martial arts expert Willie Thompson who was shot dead outside a Chadstone gym in 2003.

"The very first shot on the opening credits is of a red car I'm driving down a side street in Willy, down the road from my folks' place," Ferris says.

He believes Willy should be rebranded as Willywood - "it's like a mini-Hollywood".

Exploitation flick, Dace Decklan: Private Eye, is the festival's feature film, starring fellow production team members Heath Novkovic from St Albans and Newport's Tom Vogel in the lead.

"It's so bad, it's good, it's trashy," says Vogel, who founded the festival.

The trio also have a TV pilot in the works, with the politically incorrect title of The Making of Serbs in Space.

"It's about two idiot filmmakers who get together with a Serbian scriptwriter," Vogel said. "It's actually based on real people, believe it or not."

He said the festival's moniker was something of a misnomer.

"It started off with my first film that I directed which was called The Angry Penguin, about a serial killer penguin and it got into the Melbourne Underground Film Festival.

"They can vary from very artistic/experimental genre; we've had Tropfest finalists and Academy Award nominees (Australian short, Miracle Fish)."

This year's three-night festival starts on February 28 at Kensington's Revolt Productions. Films that don't make the cut may be picked for West Side Shorts at Williamstown's Customs House Hotel.

Details: angryproductions.org