The Deuje babe Festival was set up by C.M.A.K. Cerkno in 2013 as a way to commemorate International Women's Day. As such, the festival programme aims to highlight the work and position of women in society, presenting their artistic and cultural endeavours and promoting gender equality and feminist standpoints. Of a similar nature is also the Ljubljana-based International Feminist and Queer Festival Red Dawns, which occasionally acts as a co-producer and takes place at roughly the same time.
The name of the festival is derived from the local archaeological site, in which – as local folklore says – wild hags (deuje babe) used to live. Besides C.M.A.K., the festival sometimes takes place at the Film Theatre Idrija and some other venues in the region.
The programme comprises painting and photography exhibitions (presenting artists like the photographer Nada Žgank, painter Petra Gorenc, illustrators Pika Terpin and Maja Poljanc, the ČIPke collective and the Vstajniške socialne delavke, i.e., Uprising Social Workers collective), performances, talks with prominent female individuals, storytelling events, film screenings (with works like Bande de filles by Céline Sciamma and Like Rats Leaving a Sinking Ship by Vika Kirchenbauer) and concerts. The music often touches upon the coordinates of punk rock, with Alos (IT), R.Y.F. (IT), Žen (HR), Tús Nua (HR), Fraw Blanka (SI), Arlo Zaria (SI), All Strings Detached (SI), rouge-ah (SI), Kikimore (SI), Sequenzsiaz (DE), Aivery (AT) and Le Toy (AT) among past invited bands. The concert programme used to be carried out in collaboration with the Austrian collective Grrrls Night Out.