Ok, I figured it out.
I added a button to the view controller that I present as a modal view with my video and that button triggers the following:
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarOrientation:UIDeviceOrientationPortrait animated:NO];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] setStatusBarHidden:NO];
[self dismissModalViewControllerAnimated:YES];
When the button is triggered, the status bar is forced to portrait and the app returns to normal state. I removed the action for the "Done" button when I'm in fullscreen.
Hope this helps someone