Matter of Time: Eddie Vedder’s Documentary Connects Live Music to the Fight Against a Rare Disease

It’s hard to imagine anyone watching “Matter of Time,” Eddie Vedder’s documentary available on Netflix since February 9, 2026, without shedding at least a tear.

And yet the film doesn’t rely on dramatization or emotional manipulation to move its audience in the name of a cause. Instead, it simply and directly portrays the daily lives of people — especially children — living with a naturally cruel rare condition: Epidermolysis Bullosa, often called “butterfly disease.”

What Is Epidermolysis Bullosa?

EB is a genetic disorder in which the skin does not hold together properly. It tears and blisters easily, creating chronic wounds that rarely heal. Daily life revolves around hours-long bandage changes, a process that often begins in the bath and is always accompanied by intense pain. There is currently no cure, nor is there a treatment capable of significantly easing the suffering.

Another reality runs quietly beneath the surface of the film, noticeable to attentive viewers: the abandonment many children with rare diseases face.

Why Is Eddie Vedder in This Documentary?

Nearly 20 years ago, Jill Vedder learned that the son of a childhood friend had EB. Like most people around the world, she had never heard of it. She was deeply moved, especially upon realizing how little funding existed for research.

That moment led her and Eddie to embrace the cause. In 2010, they founded the EB Research Partnership, an organization dedicated to raising funds and accelerating the search for a cure.

Over the organization’s first decade — as referenced in the film — they went from zero to helping develop a medication that offers some improvement in skin integrity for certain patients.

Perhaps even more important than that progress is the hope the foundation has cultivated. The belief that a cure is possible. That specialists around the world are being funded by a global community determined to reach the same goal.

Pearl Jam, Community and EB

Here lies the beauty of the documentary: the formation of a community mirrors something Eddie Vedder already knew well from his career with Pearl Jam.

The band has long embraced social causes and is known for its strong sense of justice and collective responsibility. Over decades, they have built an engaged, conscious fan community through music.

Eddie extended that influence to shine a light on an issue unknown to most people — including many fans — and connected them to support the cause alongside him.

At the same time, the organization brought families, patients, doctors, and researchers together, creating a space for genuine exchange where hope feels tangible and real.

Eddie Vedder’s Seattle Benefit Show

The documentary is interwoven with footage from a 2023 benefit concert Eddie performed at Benaroya Hall, the historic venue in Seattle — Pearl Jam’s hometown.

That night, the community was present in the audience: patients, families, researchers, physicians, fans, and donors.

Between songs, Eddie speaks with his characteristic spontaneity about the people behind the cause and how personally the issue affects him. There are few off-stage interviews in the film. Longtime followers will recognize something essential: although he is a gifted lyricist with a visceral emotional depth, he remains reserved when addressing large audiences outside the context of performance.

Intercutting such a complex and painful topic with emotionally charged concert footage is a brilliant editorial choice. The setlist features striking acoustic versions of “Wishlist,” “Elderly Woman,” “Just Breathe,” “Better Man,” and “River Cross,” alongside other Pearl Jam songs, solo material, and covers.

Watching Eddie visibly moved on stage — holding back tears or letting them fall — leaves a powerful impression. He has always worn his emotions openly, and that remains one of his most defining traits. What he brings to the stage, especially in this benefit performance, goes beyond technique or rehearsal. His vulnerability — intense, unguarded, sometimes painful — is what inspires fans and gives his presence its unique radiance.

Highlights of “Matter of Time”

The patient stories are deeply compelling. By the end of the film, they feel like part of our lives. We want to know if they are doing well. We want to help.

We meet Deanna Molinaro, for example, a 31-year-old artist with a luminous gaze who, as a child, didn’t even have proper bandages to ease the pain of her condition.

She connects multiple threads of the film, sharing her daily routine, reflections, and the unimaginable adaptations required by this disease. She also bridges generations in a touching moment when she meets Rowan Holler, an 8-year-old girl with EB, presenting one of her artworks as a gift for Eddie and Jill.

Then we learn that Deanna passed away two weeks after filming ended. The harsh reality of this disease needs no embellishment; it is already devastating on its own.

Among many others featured, Garrett Spaulding is especially moving. At 27, he consented to having a piece of his skin removed for an experimental treatment, fully aware of the pain he had endured throughout his life — and motivated by the possibility that his sacrifice might benefit future generations.

I watched the documentary in the morning and spent the rest of the day deeply affected. Tears born from emotion carry weight — and that weight transforms us.

For those who understand the transformative power of live music, “Matter of Time” is a reminder of how profoundly music can serve as a bridge. A bridge between people, between pain and hope, between what is invisible and what urgently demands attention.

And there it is: the magic of Seattle, the historic weight of Benaroya Hall, and Eddie Vedder doing what he has always done best — giving voice to those who need to be heard.