Heike Kuehn is a writer, film critic, and broadcaster. Based in Frankfurt, Germany, Kuehn is a member of a collective of film critics, film historians, and academics who run the annual film seminar Arnoldshainer Filmgesprach. This Convocation lecture focused on the power of the image, the nature of testimony, and what it means to look beyond the obvious.

Kuehn writes for Die Zeit, Berliner Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau, Die Welt, and the film magazine epd-film; and has served on numerous juries of the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique (FIPRESCI), including the Locarno International Film Festival; the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival; the Duisberg International Documentary Film Festival; and the Crakovia Short Film Festival, of which she was twice elected president; as well as the Lübeck International Film Festival of Scandinavian Films; the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, of which she also served as president; and, most recently, the Montreal Film Festival. Kuehn is a long-time committee member of the German motion-picture rating system, Freiwillige Selbskontrolle der Filmwirtschaft (FSK).