The Matter of Time documentary was released on Netflix on February 9, 2026. The documentary highlights Pearl Jam’s frontman, Eddie Vedder, and his wife, Jill Vedder, in their race to find a cure for the rare genetic skin disease, Epidermolysis Bullosa (E.B). The skin disease most often affects children, and the Vedder family founded the E.B. Research Partnership (E.B.R.P.) to help find a cure for this terrible disease. The documentary is centered around E. Vedder’s 2023 benefit concerts at Benaroya Hall in Seattle to raise funds for E.B. research.
The documentary began with a segment of clips from one of the benefit concerts. In attendance, multiple children suffer from E.B. These specific children and their families work with the E.B.R.P. in helping find a cure. These children do come up again multiple times throughout the documentary. There were clips of the audience, clips of the specific children, and finally, E. Vedder singing Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, off of Pearl Jam’s album Vs. This beginning segment really gives the audience an idea of what the documentary will be about, as throughout the documentary, the audience learns more about these children with E.B. Also, throughout the documentary, there are more clips of the concert.
After that first segment, J. Vedder talked about what the benefit concerts and the research mean to her. J. Vedder talked about how there are so many different diseases out there that there are no cures for, but she believes that E.B. will be the one for whom they will find a cure. She also talked about how her desire to find a cure for this terrible disease began. She said, “When I first learned about E.B, and when I first met my friend’s child that’s affected, I was just like ‘This is the most crazy, intense, brutal thing I’ve ever seen.’ And, ‘What can we do?’ And, like, ‘Okay, we can maybe talk about this and see, you know, ‘just start small and see what happens.’”
Many doctors in the film work very closely with the E.B.R.P, researching E.B. and performing clinical trials for a cure. Dr. Jean Tang, MD, PhD, Dr. Anthony Oro, MD, PhD, and Michael Hund, CEO of E.B.R.P, all explained what the disease is, its effects, and how it’s currently “treated”. They used very simplistic terminology, which helped make it easy for an average person to understand what they were saying. This part of the documentary also helps the audience to get an understanding of what exactly the documentary will be discussing and showing. J. Vedder said, “E.B. has often been referred to as ‘the worst disease you’ve never heard of.’” So, this part of the documentary specifically teaches its viewers about the disease being discussed throughout the documentary.
After that, the audience is introduced to the different people, mostly children, with E.B., who are mentioned throughout the film. These patients are: Eli Meyer, Rowan Holler, Deanna Molinaro, Charlie and Meili Knuth, Hodges Caldwell Jr., and Garrett Spaulding. The parents of these patients and some of the patients themselves talked about what it’s like caring for and living with E.B. It is no easy task, and the film portrays the daily struggles of E.B. very well. Molinaro, specifically, was a 30-year-old girl living with recessive dystrophic E.B, and she was an advocate for E.B. victims. She spoke at a fundraising event and at one of the benefit concerts. It’s truly inspirational what Molinaro was doing for the cause of finding a cure for E.B, especially as someone who was struggling with it every day as well. Unfortunately, 2 weeks after the benefit concerts, Molinaro passed away due to complications from E.B.
Another thing featured in the documentary was the speeches and songs E. Vedder dedicated to all of these people stated above. It was a very kind gesture for E. Vedder to do that, and it shows how much he cares about the cause. He took the time to get to know these victims of E.B, which is a very admirable gesture that not all celebrities involved in projects like this do.
The film was a good watch and is something many people can learn a lot from. The E.B.R.P. continues to research E.B. and does different tests and trials to find a cure for this awful disease. They have even found a successful, F.D.A. approved treatment for recessive dystrophic E.B. That is just one step closer to finding a cure, and the film expresses multiple times that everyone involved at the E.B.R.P. is hopeful that they will find a cure for E.B. soon.
