THE ONE AND ONLY TIME is a feature documentary about age, as a measure of geologic as well as human time. Director Michelle M. Witten follows her elderly parents on a month-long Elderhostel trip to New Zealand. Though an adult in her early 30s, she hopes to relive the long-lost experience of a “family vacation” while her parents are still healthy and active. The excitement of this much-anticipated trip is tempered by the knowledge that it is the only time that she will ever visit this particular place with her parents – and perhaps even the last big trip of this nature she will take with them. Along the way, she will interview leading geologists and evolutionary experts about the formation of the country. The ancient history of the country will serve as a thread running through the film, a reminder that although things end and people die, greater forces are at work. Continents are born and destroyed, new life evolves and expires, and through it all time continuously moves forward.

Although all principle photography will take place in NZ, family archival footage and interviews will help flesh out the three main characters, as well as introducing the mostly-absent characters of her older brother and sister.

THE ONE AND ONLY TIME is a personal documentary about parents and children, in the same vein as TIME INDEFINITE (d. Ross McElwee) and 51 BIRCH STREET (d. Doug Block), but will incorporate the exquisite and unusual natural landscapes of New Zealand and hand-drawn animated sequences to give the film a dreamier and more experimental quality.